From: Sheryl Martin Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 17:58:05 -0500 Subject: NEW-Eye Of The Storm (1/1) Please Archive... grin... All Characters copyright of TenThirteen Productions and Chris Carter. No infringement intended on any part... go ahead, take me to court... I'm using the insanity defense... heh, heh, heh... Comments, complaints and just plain talk to sheryl_martin@goodmedia.com Summary: Here a ditch, there a ditch... Spoilers: A wee bit for En Ami - but really nothing much... Rating: G, story... mumble, mumble... Eye Of The Storm (1/1) by Sheryl Martin She waits; her eyes on the computer monitor. The door shuts with a soft click; the footsteps behind her signaling his return. She had bolted from the car on their return, charging up to his apartment and the last of her hopes sitting on a blank CD still resting in his computer. The screen still reads what it said when they had left - no data present. Nothing has changed. Everything has changed. A hand lands on the back of her neck with the intensity of a thunderclap; rooting her to the spot even as it rips at her heart with a lightening bolt's jagged edge. "You could have been killed." The single hand burns into her skin as she listens, feeling the thumb rub roughly over the minute scar. "He could have killed you." An imperceptible shudder rushes through her body at the memory; invisible to anyone else. His thumb stops suddenly. "He did almost kill you." The statement is blunt and without question; flat and sorrowful. She stares at the screen. The windows are gone now; replaced with a screensaver. Her eyes follow the neon green UFO as it dances across the glass, bouncing off the edges. Every third rotation a small alien pops out and waves. Her reflection is there in the glass; his too. He is not looking at the monitor. He is staring at her. Suddenly a hot wetness hits the back of her neck; beside the hand that is still seared into her skin. Her mouth opens, then closes quickly as the words threaten to escape. Reformatted; reformed they seep out through clenched teeth. "You ditch me all the time." The words slap him across the face; the effect visible in the reflection facing her. The neon UFO dances another spiral around the screen as he licks his lips, teeth biting down on soft tissue as she waits. "I do." The admission is soft and bitter at the same time, like a hard candy that tempts and doesn't deliver what you expected. "So what's the difference?" She is snarling now at the screen; at the image superimposed on the waving alien. "Because it's you." The whispered response is accompanied by a heavier weight on her neck; the hand holding her tight. "What difference should that make?" Her face is flushed now, the heat burning her skin from the inside out. Another tear lands on her bare skin; atop the small scar. She is not sated by this admission. "Because." The childish retort is accompanied by a twist of his lips; a foolish smile. Her face is unmoving; signaling her refusal to play his game today. The smile disappears, replaced with a mournful stare as he continues to look at her via the monitor. "Because it's you, Scully." The whispered words ruffle her hair; so close are his lips to her. "Because you have no idea what happens to me when you go." "I get upset when you ditch me. I feel the same way." The admission is painful but refreshing as she feels her heart pound louder in her ears; the burning in her face adding to the rush flowing through her veins. "I don't know how you feel." He lifts one hand to wipe his wet face; dropping it back onto her shoulder. "But I can't stand it when you're gone." She can't think of a response; the noise in her mind is so loud. So she sits and listens. "When Barry took you; when you were taken by that bastard last time..." She feels a shiver up her spine as her mind relives the cold, cold terror of waking up in that place. She takes a sharp breath; suddenly aware of the luxury of breathing. He feels the shiver again and again he responds. A second hand lands on her shoulders; both starting a slow steady massage of her twisted and sore muscles. "I go crazy, Scully." She can't help but smile and see the responding grin in the reflection. "Well, more than usual." His voice softens again, away from the confused but level tone he always uses with her. "I lose my mind when you're not around to steady me; keep me in line. All I can think about is what if you're not coming back this time and what if I can't bring you back this time... if you're really lost to me and I'm alone here." "You'd be fine, Mulder." The lie slips out easily, but they both feel the weight of truth dropping across them like a thick woolen blanket. "No. You'd be fine." The hands continue their slow massage; skipping lightly across the thin fabric of her blouse, one thumb dancing over the scar with a tenderness that almost makes her cry. "You'd go after them even afterwards. You'd hunt them down to their graves and then spread acid on their bones to make sure they'd never come back; not in a thousand years. You would pray for an everlasting Hell and for multiple torments that even I think you haven't thought of." She chuckles in spite of herself. "You're close." "But I..." A heavy sigh rips free of his chest; the hot air rushing by her ear as his hands tense on her skin. "I'd be useless. I would be lost." "No, you wouldn't. You weren't." Her hands reach up to rest on his; the touch electric to them both. "You'd do the same." "No, Scully. I know I'm not that strong." He stares at her reflection, seeing the alien pop out and wave. "Maybe in time, but..." "I'm sorry." She tilts her head back, closing her eyes. "I didn't think." "That's my job." He leans in, his soft lips touching her forehead as he chuckles. "Just don't do it again. Please." "Until the next time you do it to me." Her eyes are still closed, her mumbled response a whisper into his lips. "Then we can have this fight again. And I promise to pay for dinner when it happens." Her eyes flash open. "I'm paying tonight?" "Hey, you're the one in trouble here..." He looks directly at her, his bloodshot and weepy eyes tearing through her heart. "Besides, there's basketball on tonight and I had to place a few bets..." Closing her eyes again she smiles; squeezing his hands. "Pizza. And if you can get some white wine I think I could scrape up a few bucks." "You got it." The hands slide free of her grasp as he walks behind her. Pulling her head forward she stares again at the screen; the green alien waving at her. "Screw you." ************************* "Bother," said Pooh, "Eeyore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock phasers on the Heffalump. Piglet, meet me in transporter room three. Christopher Robin, you have the bridge." ************************* "Heart of a warrior, mind of a fool... soul of a romantic..." - Jackie St. George ************************* Dragon's Lair - www.geocities.com/area51/chamber/7976 *************************