From: Rhondda Lake Subject: Drying Out (1/1) Date: Sunday, May 12, 1996 at 6:08:20 pm PDT ------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: CC owns them ::sigh:: It can't be helped. I am only borrowing them for a short period of time for my own twisted little reasons. DRYING OUT by Rhondda Lake Special agent Dana Scully sat at her side of the desk and busily typed up an overdue expense report. To any outside observer it would appear that she was thoroughly engrossed in her task. Even to her partner who was busily reviewing two possible cases for them to look into, she was the picture of an agent hard at work on red tape. She barely registered anything she was typing. She just didn't want to look at him. They had returned from Skinner's office not three hours ago, and she had studiously avoided any kind of eye contact since. That in itself was problematical, and would no doubt be noticed soon. The symmetry she shared with her partner involved the ability to say so much without words, with nothing more then the locking of eyes. The lack of such comfortable communication could not go unnoticed for much longer. Especially when she caught glimpse in her peripheral vision of him staring at her with a concerned expression. He'd look up from his files, frown slightly as his eyes fell on her, then go back to his case files. His concern was unnerving. Mostly because she understood it perfectly. And because she was still shaken to the core by what she had almost done. By what she had thought. How could she ever, in a million years think Mulder would go over to the other side? How could she have lost her faith in him so completely in so short a time? How could she have actually SHOT at him? Yes, she accepted his rationalization. There was evidence enough in the chemical imbalances present in her bloodwork when she had been admitted to the hospital. She had been a guinea pig once more. The last time she had no recollection, but she was without control of her own body. This time she had lost control of her mind. It shook her to the core. To her, control was everything. It helped her to define who she was. And that control had been stripped from her. She was shown that she was weak, unable to fight the paranoid delusions, the absolute conviction that her best friend wanted her dead. There it was again. He was giving her that concerned, studious look. It was driving her crazy, and in light of recent events it was a very short trip. Her reverie was interrupted by the soft beep from her terminal indicating incoming e-mail. She clicked on the icon, hoping for anything to distract her. It was from Frohike. She bit back an annoyed sigh and quickly scanned the message, preparing to hit "delete". Unable to believe what she had just read she struggled to swallow around the lump that had formed in her throat. She read it again, letting the words sink fully in. TO:D_SCULLY@FBI.GOV.COM FROM:FROHIKE@GUNMAN.COM SUBJECT: Boundless relief. "Agent Scully, We are overjoyed to hear you are alive and well. Although hearing personally from Mulder that it was NOT your body in the morgue would have been nice. We had been waiting here anxiously for hours before Langly used some creative computing to discover you were alive and under observation at GMC. Welcome Back to the world of the living. BTW, could I interest you in attending a Stones concert with me next Friday night? Your Eternal Slave, Frohike" Scully chewed on her bottom lip. Mulder had been called to identify a body? He had thought she was dead? He hadn't told her. She recalled all too well the descriptions of Mulder's behavior when she was gone, and when she was returned with little expectation of living. Had he gone through that again? Had he faced some white sheet, waiting for it to be drawn back and reveal his partner, dead? How long had this happened before he showed up at her mother's house, to face her shoving a gun in his face? Suddenly she found it very hard to breathe. The walls were closing in on her, and those annoying looks Mulder had been throwing her took on a deeper significance. She saved her report and shut off her computer before rapidly standing and grabbing her purse. "Something wrong Scully?" She heard something in his voice, and she found herself unable to look at him. Not now, not until she could come to terms with it all. "I need some air Mulder. It's almost lunch. I'll see you in an hour." She grabbed her coat on the way out the door. She knew she wasn't being subtle about not wanting to be around him, but it couldn't be helped. She sat in her car. She didn't feel like facing the general public right now. Alone, in her car, in the Bureau's carpark she clutched at the steering wheel, her knuckles bloodless. An overwhelming miasma of guilt settled over her. In her delusion that Mulder had betrayed her, she realized that she had, in fact, betrayed HIM. Betrayed HIS trust, his faith in her. Yet he seemed to have forgiven it as if it was no more then an argument over where to go for lunch. Why? She didn't deserve it. Her mind turned once more to the message from Frohike. How had he felt going into that morgue? And WHY hadn't he told her? She jumped at the light rapping on her passenger side window. She turned her head to see Mulder looking in at her. "Shit." She muttered to herself even as he opened the door and folded himself into the seat next to her. "Is this seat taken?" His light tone was betrayed by more of that damned concern in his eyes. "Actually yes. I was going to meet my secret lover for a quickly before my lunch hour was over." She forced herself to breath normally, to release her death grip on the wheel. "Must not be worth much if he can't spring for a hotel room." He cocked his head to the side just the slightest bit. "Yeah well Skinner doesn't like to take a full hour lunch. He's too busy." Mulder gave her one of his all too rare smiles. "So how does he manage to fit in the back seat of this thing?" "He's just very athletically inclined. What are you doing here Mulder?" "I decided to go to Ziegler's for lunch and saw you sitting here in your car. I knew something was wrong. I'm an FBI agent remember. I figure these things out for a living." Scully shook her head at her own lapse of common sense. Of course he'd spot her if he were going to drive to lunch. Stupid, Dana, you were stupid. "I just needed some time alone. That's all." "I think that's the last thing you need right now. Come on, I'll buy you lunch." He pulled the seat belt on. "Mulder are you coming on to me?" "No, I just want to fight you for Skinner's affections." Scully didn't start the engine. "Why don't you think I need to be alone?" "My professional rational is that you are undergoing acute guilt induced depression and possible repression of hysterical response due to lack of self control in your otherwise tightly controlled world." His precise and sterile recitation of her very situation left her speechless, and slightly annoyed that he could read her so well. She gave him 'The Look'. He merely shrugged. "Been there, done that. I know the signs from the inside out. You also haven't looked me in the eye all morning. Now start the car, and head out. You DO remember where the deli is don't you?" Scully found herself obeying his directions. Once they were clear of the building she glanced at him briefly, then took a deep breath. "Why didn't you tell me you were called in to make a possible ID of my body?" She noticed him stiffen in the seat at once. "How did you..." "Frohike." She shrugged and managed a partial smile. "By the by he has an extra Stones ticket for Friday, maybe you can buy it off him." She looked at him sitting so stiffly in the seat now. Wow, he really had been affected by that. She knew he cared about her, realized she had become a proxy sibling. She had not expected this defensive posture from him. "Well?" She pushed. "It wasn't you. There was no need to tell you. It didn't matter." He turned his head to look out the window. Now who was avoiding eye contact? "I'm so sorry Mulder. About... about everything." He shook his head and looked at her again. Accepting. "It wasn't your fault. None of it. It's THEIR fault. Just one more item on their accounts due list." "I feel... I don't know, like I've betrayed you. And you just sit there taking it all in stride." She pulled up to the deli. "You would never betray me Scully. I know that. And deep down you know I'd never betray you." He reached over and enveloped her hand with his own, squeezing lightly. She gave no outward sign of the electrical charge that ran up her arm. "Now, have you decided what you want for lunch?" Yeah, Cancerman's heart on a platter. She didn't say it though. "The usual." She removed her hand from under his, the air feeling cold against her skin in contrast to his warmth. "So what interesting cases have you dug up for us now?" She asked as she got out of the car. "Let's leave it at the office." he followed her to the Deli's door. "So... wanna come over my place for pizza tonight? I'll rent a movie." The deli door she slammed in his face hit his nose with a satisfying THUD. The End.