From: Amy Knoke Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: "Cafe" Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 22:04:33 -0700 Hi! This is a short, short story with very little plot. It's just a little incident from Our Heroe's lives. This is my first story, so *all* comments are especially welcome. A big, huge, conspiracy-sized thank you to my editor T'liena. Without her support and help I wouldn't have written this, much less posted it. Special thanks to Michele Blankenship, whose story "Your Friend Always" inspired me to write "Cafe". And, of course, the obvious thank you to CC for giving us something to do Friday nights other than have a life. ;) Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013 Productions, and FBC. No copyright infringement is intended. Chris Reynolds belongs to me. "Cafe" by Amy Knoke 7/9/95 "So," Scully said as the waitress walked away with their orders and menus. "What do you think of this case?" "Dull." replied Mulder. "Dull and disappointing." He sighed heavily. "I was really hoping for something more substantial than rumors." Before she could express her 'sympathies', they were interrupted. "Dana?" They turned to see a well-dressed man coming toward them. "It *is* you. How are you?" he asked when he got close to their table. All the color drained from her face and her voice was bitter when she replied, "Fine, Chris, I'm fine." Mulder waited for and introduction but none came. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. It was finally broken by Mulder. He stuck out his hand, "I'm Fox Mulder." As they shook, Mulder noted that Chris shook hands like a politician. "Chris Reynolds." He turned back to Scully. "So, did you survive Medical School okay?" "Yes." Mulder realized that Scully wasn't just bitter, but she sounded angry as well. He thought he noticed touches of sadness and embarrassment as well. "What did you go into? Did you stick with surgery?" "No." "Washed out?" He was the very model of sympathy. "I *chose* forensic pathology." Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Mulder realized that she wanted to impress this guy. "Not much pay in that, is there?" Mulder interjected. "She works for the FBI." "Oh?" Now he was really surprised. "Well, good for you." He turned back to Mulder. "And what do you do?" "I'm a psychologist." Scully looked at him in shock, suddenly realizing that he was up to something. "Really? How fascinating. Myself, I'm in sales." Chris paused. "Psychology, huh?" Mulder nodded. "That could come in useful in dealing with Dana." As before, he was the picture of politeness, but Scully seethed, and Mulder wasn't far behind. Mulder swallowed his anger and mildly replied, "Pardon?" "Well, Dana demands perfection." Mulder gently took Scully's hand in his, looked deep into her eyes, prayed she wouldn't kill him, and said, "It seems to me that she deserves it." He looked back to Chris and hoped he was buying this. Chris smiled thinly, "Of course she does. Well, I should be going." He turned to Scully. "Nice to see you again Dana." He turned to go, then turned back again and asked Mulder, "You will send me a wedding invitation, won't you?" "Of course." Mulder blithely replied. As he walked away, Scully had a look on her face that Mulder, despite knowing her as well as he did, couldn't interpret. He released her hand and took a sip of water. "So," he said conversationally, "Who's Chris Reynolds?" "It's a long story." He motioned for her to continue as he took a bite of a complimentary breadstick. "That," said Scully in a flat voice, "was my ex-husband." Mulder started choking on the breadstick and Scully calmly handed him a glass of water. When the coughing had subsided, he croaked "Your *what*?" "My ex-husband." Mulder attempted to remain calm. "I . . . didn't know you'd ever been married." "It's not something I'm proud of." "Look, Scully if you don't want to talk about it, I'll understand." Scully thought for a moment. "We met when I was in med school. I fell madly, passionately, and hopelessly in love with him. We got married six months later and everything was wonderful." She paused, staring off into the distance, remembering the happiness. "So what happened?" Mulder gently prompted. "About a month after the wedding, I came home from class, set down my bag, went upstairs and into the bedroom. And there he lay, in our bed, with another woman." "Oh my god." whispered Mulder. He was starting to understand her -- and his -- reaction to Chris. "Did you know her?" "No." She smiled mirthlessly. "I suppose that's about the only thing that would have made it worse." "What did you do?" "I packed my suitcase with some essentials, went home to my parents, called a lawyer, and never saw him again. Fortunately we hadn't yet gotten around to joining bank accounts so that wasn't a problem. And Chris readily agreed to sign the divorce papers once it became clear that I wasn't coming back to him. I only went back to the house to pick up my things -- when he *wasn't* there. I even got him to agree to send all the wedding presents back." Mulder looked at her questioningly. She shrugged. "I didn't want them, but I didn't want him to have them either." Mulder grinned, then sobered. "You aren't mad, are you? About what I did when he was here?" She blushed slightly. "No. In fact I wanted to thank you. I like my life the way it is, but Chris would never believe that, and I wanted him to understand that I was happy and content without him. Though I am curious as to how you figured that out." "I didn't really figure anything out, I just guessed." "A hunch?" He smiled. "Something like that." They sat in silence for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly Mulder remembered something. "Do you have his current address?" Scully stared at him in shock. "Why on earth would you want his address?" "Don't you remember? I promised to send him a wedding invitation." And then it was Scully's turn to choke. The End. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Amy Knoke -- alknoke@u.washington.edu -- proud X-Phile, Trekkie, and Dwarfer Basil: If I didn't know better, I'd say you were smiling. Diana: I *am* smiling. Basil: Who died? "Waiting for God" -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-