From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 5 May 2006 23:17:15 -0000
Subject: Alphabet Soup: V is for Vouch by YappiChick
Source: direct

Reply To: yappichick@yahoo.com


Title: Alphabet Soup: V is for Vouch
Author: YappiChick
email: yappichick@yahoo.com
Summary: vouch v. to constitute supporting evidence; to assert; 
declare
Website: http://www.geocities.com/yappichick
Feedback: You betcha!
Rating: PG
Archive: Surely! It would be great to let me know!
Spoilers: FTF, The End
Category: MSR, A
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.  Just borrowing them for a while.
Author's note: This is part of my ABC Soup universe.  You should 
read A-U first to understand what is going on.

Two days had passed since Scully's escape from Texas.  When she 
got back to the relative safety of her home, she had left the 
metal case where Gibson had instructed her to leave it behind the 
dumpster.  Hours later, when she took out her real trash, the bag 
containing the case was gone.  She could only assume it was with 
Gibson.

There had been times over the past forty-eight hours when Scully 
blamed herself for the failure of the success of the mission.  If 
she had only been more careful, Gibson wouldn't be in danger.  
Although there was no hint of resentment in his voice when she 
had spoken to him at the facility, she felt like she let him 
down.  Not being able to talk to him, hearing his calm, 
reassuring words, was also taking a toll on her.

While Gibson had warned her about not being able to contact her 
for a while, her expedition had another unexpected result: Mulder 
had also gone incommunicado after talking to her on Monday night.  
Once she had told him about her conversation with Gibson, he 
unilaterally decided that they should follow the same course of 
action.  

Despite her disagreement with his idea, he went through with it.  
Though she could hear him explaining in her head it was only for 
her protection, she had enough of his neglect.  If this 
relationship was going to work out, they needed to be able to 
lean on each other, no matter what threats they may be facing.

After a day at the clinic, Scully let herself into her apartment.  
She glanced at her answering machine, half-heartedly hoping to 
see if by some miracle Mulder had decided to call her.  No such 
luck.  Her decision made, she got ready for her surprise visit to 
Mulder's apartment.

Ready or not, she thought, here I come.

*****

When she arrived at Mulder's building, she noticed there were no 
lights shining in his window.  Briefly, she wondered if he was 
even home.  He probably turned out the lights in his living room 
just so she would think that.  Closing the car door, she made her 
way up to his building.

After taking the elevator to the fourth floor, she considered 
whether to knock or let herself in.  Her mother always did teach 
her to be polite; she knocked on the door loudly.  There was no 
way Mulder could use the I-didn't-hear-you excuse.  

Scully listened carefully for any movement inside his apartment.  
Within a few seconds she heard light footsteps.  "I'm not 
leaving.  I'll let myself in if I have to," she warned.

A muffled curse later, the door opened.  Mulder quickly ushered 
her inside.  "Scully, what are you doing here?  You know we are 
supposed to lay low for a while."

Her eyebrow rose.  "I was informed that Gibson felt it was no 
longer safe to communicate to us until he managed to secure the 
vaccine.  I didn't know that his concern extended to you," she 
said challengingly.

He frowned, obviously not ready to debate with her.  "I just 
thought it would be in our best interests if we-"

"Ignored each other?" she interrupted.  "I thought we had agreed 
to try to make this work.  That we were going to give this 
relationship a hundred percent of our effort.  Now at the first 
sign that things aren't completely smooth, you bail on me."

She saw him consider her words.  Finally, he nodded his 
agreement.  "You're right.  I guess old habits die hard."

She could hardly believe her ears.  Mulder was willing to agree 
with her without a drawn out debate?  She was so prepared to 
spend the night arguing with him about his actions that she 
didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, Mulder wasn't tongue tied like she was.  "About I 
make it up to you with a movie and dinner?"

"I know your taste in movies.  Not interested," she said dryly.

Unexpectedly, his eyes began to twinkle.  Her stomach fluttered.  
Scully didn't think she had ever seen him this openly happy.  
"It's a classic.  Plan 9 From Outer Space." His accompanying grin 
made Scully doubt the quality of the movie even more.  

"Can't say I've ever heard of it," she said slowly, wondering 
what exactly she had gotten herself into.

His smile grew.  "Oh, Scully, you're going to love it."

An hour later, they were sitting on his couch.  Their mostly 
eaten Thai food was sitting on plates.  Neither of them wanted to 
get up to clean them, but for completely different reasons.  Five 
minutes into the movie, Scully knew she would be miserable if she 
concentrated all of her focus there.  The stilted dialogue, the 
cheesy special effects, the inconceivable plotline were too much 
to bear.  Instead, she leaned into Mulder and listened to his 
passionate commentary about the movie.

As she leaned into his shoulder, she could more feel the rumble 
of his voice then hear the actual words.  Soon, she found herself 
beginning to drift off to sleep.  To her surprise, it wasn't 
Mulder who woke her up a few minutes later, chiding her for 
falling asleep while watching a "classic".  It was the vibrating 
of his cell phone in his pocket, which was pushed up against her 
hip.

She jerked forward.  "Mulder, aren't you going to answer it?"

He shrugged.  "The only person I'm interested in talking to is 
right here," he said simply before turning his gaze back to the 
television screen.

Despite the slight blush that colored her cheeks, she frowned.  
"What if it is Gibson?"

He paused the movie, unwilling to miss any more of it.  "Then 
he'll call you on your phone or leave me a message.  It's 
probably just Skinner wanting the expense report for the Texas 
case."

Not wanting to ruin his good mood, she put her head back on his 
shoulder.  A couple of seconds later, the movie resumed and soon 
she found herself drifting off to sleep.  Until the phone rang.  
Again.

Mulder muffled a curse as he pulled out the offending electronic 
out of his pocket.  He opened it up and turned off the phone 
without answering it.  "There.  No more interruptions."

"Maybe you should pick it up, Mulder.  Obviously whoever it is 
wants to talk to you," she said, not lifting her head from his 
shoulder.

He grinned.  "And ruin your nap?  It's fine.  If it's Skinner, he 
has my home number."

Not wanting to be woken from sleep again, Scully forced herself 
to stay awake for the remainder of the movie.  Though she was 
tempted to point out every inconsistency in the plot that she 
found, she decided not to heckle him.  For some reason he really 
did seem to enjoy the film.

Once the credits began rolling, Mulder turned to her with a goofy 
grin.  "So..."

She had to answer him honestly; she owed it to him.  "Mulder, I 
hate to say it, but that had to be the one of the worst movies I 
have ever seen in my life."

To her surprise, his smile remained on his face.  "You just slept 
through the good parts.  I'm sure the next time we watch it--"

"No way.  I pick the next movie," she said, cutting him off.

He made a face.  "Just as long as it's not one of those movies 
like My Best Friend's Wedding.  My brain couldn't handle the sap 
factor."

Pretending to be offended, she raised her eyebrow.  "I am shocked 
that you think I would be that stereotypical.  I would try to 
pick a movie that we both would find enjoyable.  You know, like 
Independence Day," she joked.

He put a hand over his heart with a grimace.  "No, anything but 
that.  And people say that I'm open to extreme possibilities.  At 
least I don't think an alien spacecraft could be destroyed by an 
Apple computer.  I swear, those people at Fox will produce any 
kind of movie just for a few bucks," he grumbled.

She smiled softly before standing up.  "Since you delighted me 
with such a fine movie, I'll do the dishes."

He walked behind her, as she led the way to the kitchen.  
"Scully, if anything, I owe you.  If you hadn't come over, I 
would have spent another evening alone on the couch."  He watched 
as she momentarily paused, reflecting over his words.

She placed the dishes in the sink.  "Honestly, I am just grateful 
that we didn't spend the night arguing.  Even if it did mean 
watching that movie."

He crossed the floor to stand in front of her.  Caressing her 
cheek, he said, "I don't think I've told you, but thank you for 
coming over here."  He lowered his lips close to hers.  After his 
crazed kiss from several days before, he was nervous to kiss her.

Before he could continue to doubt himself, she leaned up and 
placed her lips over his.  Her hands found their way to his hair, 
pulling him closer to her.  Seconds turned into countless spans 
of time.  The only thing she could feel were his lips, his body, 
his soul.

When she became breathless, she pulled away from him and leaned 
against his chest.  "Remind me to show you more cheesy sci-fi 
movies," she heard him say.  She smiled, concentrating on the 
sound of his heartbeat.  It was comforting to hear such a basic 
sound, knowing that he was safe.  It appeared her adventure on 
Monday left Scully more rattled than she realized.

As if Mulder could pick up on her train of thought, he tightened 
his arms around her.  "I hated the fact I wasn't there to watch 
your back when you were in that building."

She shrugged.  "That's the cost of not being partners anymore," 
she replied with a frown.

His grip tightened around her momentarily before beginning to 
speak.  "We may not be able to work together anymore, but that 
doesn't mean I don't want to protect you...or be your partner in 
other ways."

Before she could nervously demand what exactly he meant by "other 
ways", a bang on his front door caused them to break apart.

"Open the door, Mulder!  I know you're in there!"

"Colton?" Mulder asked the same time Scully said, "Tom?"

Mulder quickly made his way to the front door before his 
neighbors could complain about the sound.  He swung the door 
open.  "Are you trying to get me evicted?"

Colton pushed his way into the foyer.  "What the hell is going on 
here?  Why didn't you pick up your damn phone?"

Mulder's mind was trying to catch up with what had just happened 
in the last sixty seconds.  One moment he was confessing his 
deepest desire to Scully, the next he had a disgruntled co-worker 
yelling in his face.  "What's your problem, Colton?"

Colton began to pace the tiny room.  "On Monday we get to Texas, 
find a known fugitive and let him go without arresting him.  Then 
when we get back to D.C., Skinner has me temporarily reassigned 
to the VCS.  And at the meeting today, he didn't want my report 
or anything pertaining to the case!"

Mulder should have known that why he was here.  Colton's pride 
was suffering.  "That was my call.  I felt the risks that your 
involvement in the case could bring to you or your family were 
too high.  We both know the only reason you came down to the 
basement was to try and make a fool out of me.  The truth is if 
you stay on the X-files, everyone you know will be in danger," he 
explained.

Colton rolled his eyes.  "Please, Mulder.  Spare me the 
melodramatic crap."

"He's right, Tom.  Being on the X-files is risky.  You have to be 
one hundred percent committed to them because you will have to 
make sacrifices," Scully said, walking into the foyer.

Colton swung around to her.  "What are you doing here, Dana?"

Mulder was tempted to point out her swollen lips, but knew she 
would kill him if he said anything.  "We were having dinner 
together.  It's what friends do," he answered.

Colton smirked.  "I always knew you two were sleeping with each 
other."

Instead of giving him an earful, Scully's demeanor turned cold.  
"If you don't have anything productive to say, Tom, get out."

Colton seemed to realize he was in hot water.  He went back to 
the reason he came to Mulder's apartment in the first place.  
"Dana, we were in the same room as a murderer, the man who had 
knowledge about your disappearance.  Don't stand there and tell 
me you're willing to justify his actions!"

She stood by Mulder's side.  "Tom, you don't know half of what 
Mulder does.  There will be a time to catch Alex Krycek.  It 
wasn't the right time then."

His mouth opened and shut a couple of times before shouting, "You 
are as insane as he is, Dana!  The X-Files are a waste of 
government resources.  And I intend to report that to Deputy 
Director Kersh."

Mulder shrugged.  "It isn't the first time someone has said that 
about the X-Files.  In fact, I remember someone saying that our 
investigation was waste of man power five years ago.  I guess 
some things never change, do they, Colton?"

Colton reddened, thinking about how his pride almost cost Scully 
her life.  "I've already requested a transfer to VCS.  Skinner 
said he would push it through.  Good luck in getting a new 
partner.  Then they'll have no other choice but to shut you 
down."  He turned around and slammed the door.

Mulder glanced at Scully.  "Was it something I said?"