------------------------

Chapter Four

Goodbye, My Love

------------------------
 
 

   In the distance, thunder rumbled. The small crowd that gathered waited around quietly for
the ear-piercing wail of an ambulance siren.

   "I'm a doctor!" yelled someone from the back of the crowd. A young male pushed through the
crowd to reach Byers.

   "I hate to burst your bubble, but you're just a second year med student." Silver said to
the young man. He looked dumbfounded that Silver figured it out. Then the wail was heard.
Everybody backed away as it approached. Silver got up as the EMTs moved in.

   "Come on Silv. The best we can do and take a taxi up to the hospital." Frohike sighed,
pulling at Silver's arm.

   "Might as well." Silver inhaled the damp air deeply. She searched her coat pockets and
brought out her cell phone.

   "It's the wave of the future." Langly snorted. Silver dialed the number for Broadway cab
and put the cell phone to her ear. She looked at Langly and made the two-fingered peace symbol
on her free hand.

   Several minutes later, a bright yellow Broadway Cab pulled up to the curb Silver was
sitting on a block away from the accident. The ambulance had already left a minute ago. Silver
rose up and brushed herself off. She climbed into the front passenger seat as Langly and
Frohike got into the back seats.

   "Where to?" asked the mid-20's male cab driver.

   "Emergency Wing of OHSU." Silver said as she settled into her seat.

   "Friend in an accident recently?"

   "Yep. Just when he found his lady love."

   "Sucks."

   "Mm-hmm. You stuck cabbing?"

   "Yeah. Just waiting around after college for a decent job to open up."

   "I cabbed after college back in DC. Weirdest politics back there. Drove democrats,
republicans, FBI, all the government bigs."

   "Cool." There was a long pause. Silver sighed quietly and looked out the window at the rain
pattering quietly against its outside. She was straining an ear out, listening to the radio,
which was turned down low. She heard a familiar song that fit the mood hanging over the heads
of herself and the Gunmen. She slowly swayed to the music and trailed her fingers against the
cool fog on the window. She sang softly to the song:
 
 

You in the dark

You in the pain

You on the run

Living a hell

Living your ghost

Living your end

Never seem to get in the place that I belong

Don't wanna lose the time

Lose the time to come

Whatever you say is alright

Whatever you do is all good

Whatever you say is alright
 
 

   The cab pulled up to OHSU's emergency wing before the song was over. Silver got out and
paid the cab fare.

   "Stay cool. You'll get out of this job soon." Silver said to the cab driver as she gave him
the fare money.

   "Thanks. I hope your boy gets well. Tragedy is too much." Said the cab driver.

   "Let's go find Byers." Silver spun around and headed towards the doors to the wing.
 
 

   After waiting for hours in the ICU waiting room, the three of them were finally able to see
Byers. Silver stood outside the room and talked to the doctor assigned to Byers.

   "Byers, I hate to say this, but you look like shit." Frohike sighed and laughed weakly.

   "He can hear you." Langly pointed out from afar.

   "I know that." Silver entered the room and nearly hit Langly with the door.

   "Langly, it's not that weird. Go sit near Byers." Silver said softly, ushering Langly
towards a seat near the bed.

   "So what did the doctor say about him?" said Frohike, looking up from Byers.

   "Well he said that Byers had broken his left arm, left shoulder, both of legs, and hip. He
also has a severe concussion, internal bleeding, and bruised internal organs. He's in critical
condition. Plus he's in a coma at the moment and there's no telling what will happen to him."
Silver said grimly.

   "My god." Gasped Langly as he went white as a ghost. Luckily he was sitting in the chair,
or else he would have fainted.

   "We gotta call Mulder and Scully and break the news to them." Frohike said quietly.

   "Haven't you forgotten? We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." Silver said to Frohike.

   "Shut up, Dorothy."

   "Anyway, I need to go get Susanne."

   "Doesn't Susanne work here?"

   "Yeah, but she got off work an hour ago."
 
 
 
 

   Susanne waited in the checkout line at Safeway, flipping through a magazine on the rack
next to her. The woman ahead of her had a ton of things in her cart. She listened to the beep
of scanner and hoped the cashier would hurry up.

   "Miss?" said the cashier. Susanne looked up from her magazine and quickly put it back on
the rack.

   "Sorry about that." Susanne said as she stepped forward to the cashier. The cashier started
to ring up her groceries.

   "Paper or plastic?" said the bagging woman. Susanne looked at the bagging woman.

   "Paper. Why do you look familiar?"

   "Because Byers is in the hospital."

   "What? He's in the hospital?"

   "You got that right. Just about a few hours ago up on the Park Blocks this morning."

   "Oh my god." Susanne turned deathly pale as the cashier asked her if she was ok.

   "That's why I need you to come with me. We'll stop at your apartment so you can put your
groceries away. Now pay the cashier and we can be on our way." Susanne nodded at Silver and
paid the cashier. Silver took hold of Susanne's cart and followed her out to her car.

   "What happened?" Susanne asked, unlocking her car trunk.

   "He got hit by a car." Silver said, putting bags of groceries in the trunk. She wheeled the
cart into another cart and headed back to the car, climbing into the passenger seat. Susanne
quickly got into her car and started it up.

   "He has to make it through. He has to." Susanne trailed off and backed out of the parking
space and headed out into the street.
 
 

   Langly was out kicking the coffee machine in the hall when Susanne and Silver arrived.
Silver opened the door of Byers room for Susanne. Susanne entered the room while Silver walked
up to Langly and gave the coffee machine a good firm kick near the bottom. Coffee spilled out
into the cup.

   "The good way to get coffee out is to kick the machine at the bottom. I know these Portland
coffee machines." Silver sighed at Langly.

   "Hmm. So how were you able to find Susanne?" Langly whispered, blowing on his coffee.

   "She does her grocery shopping on Fridays like most people."

   "Why do you know this?"

   "Don't ask. I just know."

   "You know too much."

   "Yeah. I do."
 
 

   Susanne sat down in a chair next to Byers' bed after Frohike held it out for her and left
the room. She stroked his left hand, scraped and unmoving.

   "God. Byers," Susanne sniffled. She reached over and picked up his chart. She began to read
it, eyes growing wider and wider before breaking out into tears.

   "You don't deserve this. I'm going to get to the bottom of this." She rose from her seat
and headed out into the hall where Silver and the rest of the Gunmen lounged around.

   "Yes?" Silver said, turning to Susanne.

   "Who hit him? I need to know."

   "We don't know. We got the plate, make, and model from Byers on Tuesday when he had the
dream of getting hit by a car."

   "You have enough information, right? Enough to take it to the police?"

   "Yes. We were on our way now. We were waiting for your go-ahead."

   "Head out to the police station and file a report. I'll stay with Byers."

   "Alright. Come on guys, you're witnesses too." Silver headed out with Langly and Frohike
close at her heels. Susanne headed back into the room and resumed sitting by Byers' side,
hoping he'll come out of his coma.
 
 

   The hours felt like days, the days like years. Each low beep was like a countdown until the
end. Come Sunday, Silver spent the day with her twins and mother for Mother's Day. But the
thought of Byers still lingered in her mind. Monday came, and everything was still the same.
 
 

   "I hate not knowing what's going to happen. It ransacks me to the very core and I don't
think I can take one more minute of it!" Frohike yelled as he threw his cup of water angrily
at the waiting room wall. Langly was startled and turned even paler, curled up in his chair in
the corner of the room.

   "Shh, Frohike, shh." Silver said quietly as she gently pushed Frohike back down into his
chair. She walked towards Langly, the low squeak of her sneakers on the shiny linoleum. She
sat down next to him, holding out a cup of water and two plain white pills.

   "What are these for?" Langly's voice quavered as he looked at the pills in Silver's hand.

   "They'll help you relax. You're too wound up." Silver took Langly's hand and placed the
tiny pills into his wide palm. He glanced at them and quickly put them into his mouth and
taking the cup of water out of her hand, gulping it down after swallowing the pills. He laid
his head back and sighed. Silver checked her watch and stood up.

   "What?" Frohike asked, looking up at Silver.

   "It's time." Silver said quietly, tugging at Langly's arm to get him to stand up.

   "Time for what?"

   "Time to go get Mulder and Scully from the airport." Silver hoisted Langly up and took him
to Byers' room and set him down in a chair so Susanne could watch him.

   "The plan is still in effect?" Frohike stood up as soon as Silver came out of the room.

   "Yes. I got my car out of storage, even though it's a little old. You can use that. But
first, we gotta head back to the hotel room so I can get dressed and call the dudes."
 
 

   The plane touched down on PDX's runaway. Scully brushed back a small portion of her hair
while Mulder tugged at his seatbelt. Scully peered down the aisle at the flight attendants
receiving garbage from the passengers. She sighed and looked past Mulder and out his window.
Mulder stopped tugging at his seatbelt and looked up at Scully.

   "What is it, Scully?" Mulder asked, looking at Scully worriedly.

   "Oh. Nothing. Just thinking." Scully said quietly, snapping out of her daze. The radio
crackled and the voice of the captain came on with information. Everybody in the plane stood
up and pulled their bags out of the overhead compartments. Scully quickly yanked her bag out
of the compartment and darted ahead of Mulder and the passengers making their way down the
aisle. Mulder was still tugging at his seatbelt and shouted out to a long gone Scully.

   Scully stepped out of the gate and looked at the many faces of people waiting for their
loved ones and friends. She didn't know which Gunman would meet herself and Mulder at the
airport. She glanced at the crowd again and spotted Frohike's leather clothes combo. She
walked towards Frohike who was searching through the exiting passengers for her red bob.

   "I'm here." Scully whispered from Frohike's left side.

   "There you are. Where's Mulder?" Frohike grinned, taking Scully's carry-on.

   "He's still on the plane working his seatbelt. I got ahead of the passenger rush."

   "Let's go get the luggage." Frohike yanked Scully's arm and began walking briskly towards
the baggage claims a few floors down.

   "What about Mulder?"

   "We'll be back up to get him soon enough."
 
 

   Mulder finally got his seatbelt undone. He took his carry-ons out from under the seat and
the overhead compartments while waiting for a break in the constant flow of coach passengers.
When a break came, he quickly moved into it and joined the slow trudging pace out of the
plane. When he finally made it out, he searched for Scully. She was found a few paces ahead of
him, quickly walking towards the passenger pick-up outside. He stumbled to catch up with her,
but she was still ahead of him.

   Arriving outside, Mulder was grabbed by two unidentified men as two others opened a limo
door for Scully. She backed away from the door and turned around. It wasn't Scully at all. It
was another woman; Mulder fell into a trap.

   Mulder was tossed into the limo and seated in the middle seat near the front seat glass.
The two men that had grabbed him sat on opposing sides of him. The woman sat across from him
in the back seats with the other two men sitting in the seats on either sides of her. Mulder
looked around the limo nervously as it jolted forward, driving away from the airport. The men
on the woman's sides looked plain, one had blond-cropped hair and the other had slightly
spiked brown hair with blond highlights. The men on Mulder's sides had red hair; the other had
plain brown hair. All were youthful looking and eerily quiet.

   "How was your flight, Mr. Mulder?" said the woman, breaking the silence.

   "It was fine, thank you." Mulder stuttered slightly.

   "You have no reason to be nervous. We're all friends here."

   "Really? Then what are their names?"

   "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

   "Try me."

   "James Bond," she pointed at the red haired guy on Mulder's right side. "Michael Myers,"
she pointed at the brown haired guy on Mulder's left side. "John Doe," she pointed at the
blond guy on her right side. "And Seth McGrath." She ended, pointing at the blond highlight
guy on her left side.

   "Are those their real names?" Mulder asked with a deadpan look on his face.

   "Damn straight. It's on their birth certificates. They're not one of those freaks who
change their names to Obi-Wan Kenobi after Star Wars came out."

   "What about you?"

   "Sterling Silver."
 
 

   "Where's Mulder?" Scully said, looking at Frohike with a crude look on her face.

   "I have no idea. We can call him on his cell when we arrive at the hotel. Is that ok?"
Frohike looked sadly and pleading at Scully.

   "Fine." Frohike picked up part of Scully's luggage and most of Mulder's, heading out to the
parking garage, dodging construction tape just to get to Silver's '92 Honda Accord.
 
 

   Frohike stopped suddenly at the front of a huge sign that read 'PORTLAND' vertically. A guy
with a foofy hat opened the passenger door for Scully and held out a white-gloved hand. She
looked up at the doorman and placed her tiny hand into his large gloved hand and stepped out
of the car. Frohike bounded out of the driver's side and opened the trunk so a bellhop could
retrieve the luggage.

   "Welcome to the Heathman Hotel, ma'am. I hope you enjoy your stay." The doorman boomed with
a large smile on his face.

   "Thank you." Scully cracked a small smile and followed Frohike and the bellhop up to the
Gunmen's room.

   As soon as the three of them arrived at the room, Scully noticed it was unusually clean.
She looked around as Frohike took care of Mulder's luggage, plopping them down near the TV. He
scooped up Scully's luggage and motioned her to follow him. He led her to a very neat and
clean room. He set down her luggage near the closet and sighed.

   "You can stay in Byers' room. He won't be needing it now." Frohike said sadly, grasping the
doorknob to the half-open closet door. His eyes misted and he turned away from Scully.

   "I'm sorry about Byers." Scully put her hand on top of Frohike's finger-less gloved hand.

   "If he dreamt about it, it had to happen." Frohike left the room, leaving Scully standing
there. He made a beeline towards the phone next to the couch and dialed up Silver's cell phone
number. He waited impatiently listening to two prolonged rings.

   "Yes?" Silver's voice was heard on the other line.

   "Where are you? Scully and I was looking all over for you!" Frohike slightly yelled so
Scully would think he was talking to Mulder.

   "The Moldy Man is here."

   "Ohh. Damn seatbelt then."

   "Hotel or Hospital?"

   "Scully and I took care of your luggage. Take a cab and meet us at room #251 on the 2nd
floor of OHSU's emergency wing." Frohike sighed and hung up the phone.

   "Did you get hold of Mulder?" Scully said, coming into the living room.

   "Yeah. That was just him. He'll be meeting us at the hospital."
 
 

   Silver switched off her cell phone and looked at Mulder. He had seemed to knock down the
nervousness, but she could tell he was still in it.

   "Who was that?" Mulder asked.

   "Take a guess. The nice little man has Scully now." Silver answered, grinning smugly.

   "Are we there yet?"

   "Avoiding the 20 Questions, eh?" Silver pushed the intercom to the driver and asked how
much longer. The privacy glass rolled down and revealed the driver; Silver and the Gunmen's
taxi driver from Friday.

   "Just a little pedal." The driver said. The glass went back up and the car abruptly
stopped. John and Seth flung open their doors and got out.

   "You need to come with us, Mr. Mulder. It concerns one of your close friends." Silver said
to Mulder, holding out her hand to him as Michael and James got out of the limo.
 
 

   Frohike led Scully into Byers' room. Susanne was still sitting by Byers' bedside while
Langly was sitting peacefully in a chair on the opposite side of the bed. Scully stood at the
foot of Byers' bed and looked at his chart. She didn't like what she saw. In Byers' condition
now, there would be a really high chance for him to live.

   A click of heels was heard outside the room, approaching slowly. Frohike turned around and
opened the door for Mulder and Silver while the rest of the guys from Working stood around
outside. Silver closed the door behind her and took the reddish wig off her head and shook her
short pixie hair out. She gave Frohike a small squeeze before sitting down next to Langly, who
was completely out of it.

   "Who is she?" Scully and Mulder whispered in unison at Frohike.

   "She's the fourth Gunman. We added her a month and a half ago. She's the motherlode."
Frohike said. Mulder pulled Frohike aside to talk to him while Scully continued to examine
Byers' chart.

   "Motherlode? Why the hell didn't you tell me this earlier?" Mulder whispered loudly at
Frohike.

   "Hey, man. No. She's not our little blow-up doll, she won't be yours either. She's one of
us, we do not think of her in any kind of sleazy way. Get your mind out of the gutter and show
some respect." Frohike whispered-snarled at Mulder. With that, Mulder backed off.

   "Lang? You doing ok?" Silver said to Langly, looking at him.

   "Swell." Langly slurred quietly. Then he fell into a deep sleep.

   "Uhh. Help me with Woodstock here…" Silver tugged Langly up, waiting for Frohike to come
and help her hoist Langly onto the spare bed.
 
 

   A few minutes later, Mulder and Scully were standing around outside the room discussing
Silver over cups of coffee.

   "A new Gunmen addition? Susanne in Portland? This is all news to me." Mulder said, zoning
out.

   "Yep. But I think she's doing a great job at being mother maid for them. I saw their hotel
room, and it's neat as a button." Scully breathed into her coffee.

   "That's called room service."

   "I asked Frohike myself, he said that room service hasn't been there since Thursday
morning."

   "Let's slap a number on it and call it an X-File, Scully. If Byers ever makes it out of
this, it's going in the cabinet."
 
 

   The days went by slowly. Each of them took shifts; even Susanne had to work eventually. But
she still came to his bedside every evening. After a week and a half after the accident,
Silver was slowly cracking under the pressure. She ended up calling Drew, the stranger on the
plane, her college roommate.

   "Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew. Take me away." Silver groaned, squirming on the spare bed, pale as a
person can be. Langly had the bedside shift while Frohike was out getting coffee with Scully
and Mulder. He started to get used to being in the room, watching Byers' unmoving body every
eight hours. But Silver wasn't doing so well; he worried for her well being.

   "I'm here. I'm going to take you back to the hotel." Drew leaned down over Silver, soothing
her with soft hand strokes on her arms.

   "No. Take me to your apartment. I can't stand it in that hotel. I can still smell Byers'
suits."

   "I will. Don't worry." Drew lifted Silver up and wrapped one of his arms around her and
slowly walked her to the door.

   "Will she be alright?" Langly asked, looking up at Drew.

   "She probably will. She needs a little bed rest. I'm going to drop her off at my apartment
and return back here to update you."

   "Thanks."
 
 

   As Langly and Frohike started to change shifts a half-hour later, Drew showed up, bearing
news of Silver.

   "Dr. Drew, what have you concluded about our Loveline caller?" Langly said, standing up
from his chair.

   "She's under extreme stress. Haven't you figured that out by now?" Drew retorted, settling
into a chair on the other side of the room.

   "She has been doing everything she can for us while recording that CD with her band."

   "That and her older brother."

   "What older brother?"

   "Exactly. He died in June 1991."

   "What's the dial up?"

   "His name was Donald. He died in this hospital a week and a half after being in a coma due
to getting in a car accident. Silver apparently sees Byers as the older brother she lost."

   "It's playing back on repeat? The situation?"

   "Yeah. She just needs a little bed rest. She'll probably be back to normal after a few
days. She still has to shoot the music video for Working's first single, Hotel, at the
Heathman. For now, she'll be staying with my son and I."

   "Cool. Wish the best of luck to her for me."

   "Will do." Drew rose from his seat and left the room. Langly leaned on the back of his
chair and sighed.

   "Did you get all that?" Langly asked towards the bathroom.

   "Damn straight." Frohike said, stepping out of the bathroom and zipping up his pants.
 
 

   As Thursday came, good news bestowed the hospital room the visitors had gotten so used to.
The cheerful charm of Silver was back to normal. Byers also seems to be improving, but he's
not quite out of la la land just yet.

   "Anything happened while I was getting treatment from Dr. Drew?" Silver asked, opening the
door to the gang eating lunch in Byers room. Her pixie hair was flyaway, not distracting much
from her outfit.

   "When did you get here?" Mulder asked, gaping at her vintage flowery lingerie dress,
fishnet stockings, and below the knee black boots. Frohike noticed Mulder's goo goo eyes and
gave him a smack on his upper left arm.

   "Just now. The good folks controlling the Portland Police Department's copters just dropped
me off on the heli pad of this building. We just finished wrapping up the last scene of the
Hotel music video." She brushed her hair down and took a seat next to Langly at the small
table everybody was crowded around.

   "Don't you need a wardrobe change?" Frohike pointed out, sighing over his club sandwich.

   "What are you talking about? I'm comfortable in my own clothes, thank you." Silver scoffed
and tugged at her dress, which came to her mid-thighs. Langly leaned over and whispered
something in her ear. She glanced over at Mulder, who was trying hard not to gawk at her. She
stifled a laugh and stole one of Langly's French fries.

   "What?" Mulder said nervously, looking around.

   "Keep your eyes to yourself." Silver laughed.

   "If you're gonna hit on her, big boy, hit on the rest of the Gunmen." Frohike snickered.
Scully raised an eyebrow.

   "You having fun without me?" a low ragged voice said from behind them.

   "Oh my god." Susanne whispered from Byers' bedside.

   "Call the doctor!" Scully shot out, dropping her spoon into her fat free yogurt. Silver
scrambled outside the room and grabbed one of Byers' doctors that were in her sight. Mulder
and the remaining Gunmen pushed their way over to Byers' bedside.

   "We never said we were." Frohike grinned at Byers.    "Susanne." Byers coughed and looked over at Susanne.

   "John." Susanne said, smiling sweetly at Byers, stroking his forehead. Silver came back
into the room with one of Byers' doctors. The doctor strolled over to Byers' bedside as
everyone backed out of the way.

   "How are you feeling, Mr. Byers?" asked Dr. Manthic, checking Byers' chart and vitals.

   "I feel like shit. Does that sum it up for you?" Byers said impatiently. Everyone cracked
up except for the doctor, who rolled his eyes.

   "You seem to be improving rapidly. We should be able to send you home in a week or so if
you prefer.

   "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home…"
Silver repeated, clunking her boot heels together.

   "Dorothy." Byers managed to grin.

   "Cowardly Lion." Silver beamed back.