GETTING CLOSER chapter 8: Missing You (1/1)
by Deisy
erness@indo.net.id

Disclaimer: Do I have to type it again, you know they're not mine..
Rating    : PG
Category  : S - R
Keyword   : Mulder/Scully - romance (as if there were anything else..)
Summary   : The X Files has been closed. Scully is back to Quantico
            while Mulder is assigned in England, with the Scotland
            Yard. Days go by and they start missing each other...
Message   : I completely forgot the time difference between places in
            the world when I wrote this. So, please, don't sneer, I
            just forgot ! :p..

xxxxx
Dana Scully's residence
3 weeks after separation

  "Kat, take the key from my left pocket and open the door, please," Scully
ordered. Her arms werefull of paperbags. They have just gone shopping. Kat
reached out to get the key and unlocked Scully's apartment door. They went
it and Scully put everything down in the kitchen table.
  "Aunt Day, can I have a glass of apple juice ?"
  "Sure, Kat. Serve yourself. Be careful with the glass." Scully went to the
livingroom and turned on her laptop computer. She connected the modem and
checked her mails. She smiled as she saw one familiar address between them.
She clicked it and in a second, the message appeared on her screen.

<<Hi Sweetie,
how're you ? It's warmer here now. The tulips are blooming. I wish you were
here so I can give
you a big bunch of them. How's the autopsies today ? Did you get an apple
from one of your
good students ?
See you,
Fox.>>

  Scully smiled and clicked the reply button. She typed;

<<Hi there,
everything's great here. The students are frustrating me. Well, as no one in
the group could
answer "from which foramen does the Trigeminus Nerve pierce out from the
cranium" and "what
muscle covers the temporo-mandibular joint", I told them to reopen their
Anatomy atlas and that
I would give a quiz next week, about the Nerves and Muscles of Face and Neck.
Kat's here for a week. I'll let her write a few words for you.>>

  "Kat !" she called her. Kat stepped out of the kitchen with a glass in her
hand. "Do you want to type something to Mulder ?"
  "Yes !" she quickly put her glass down and went to her. Scully settled the
little girl on her lap and Kat began to type with her two fingers. Scully
corrected her spellings but she hardly found any.
Kat was a bright student for her age.

<<Hi, Mulder.
I'm in holidays now. Mommy said I can spend a week with Aunt Day. I passed
my Grade 2 exam
with Honours ! It's the highest ! Marina, the girl who entered the exam room
with me, she was
Pink because she was shorter, and I was Blue, she got a Highly Commended. I
and Aunt Day
went shopping today and she bought me a blue pajama with the slippers to
match. When will you
go home, Mulder ? I want to see you again. Bye..
Kathleen Louise Scully>>

  She smiled amusedly. "Okay, that's great. I'm sure Mulder will be
surprised. Now, go and change your clothes. Brush your teeth."
  "Oh, do I have to go to bed now ?" she frowned.
  <There it goes..> "Listen, why don't we play something on the bed ?"
  "Oh, okay.." She jumped down of Scully's lap and went to the bedroom.
  Scully watched the little girl and shook her head. She turned her face
back to the screen and typed.

<<That's her, Mulder. Your little munchkin.
Well, I have to tuck her to bed. See you later.
Dana>>

  She clicked `queue'. Then she checked the other mails and typed the
necessary replies. Then after sending them all, she shut down her system.
She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water then she caught Kat up in
the bedroom.

xxx
London
Scotland Yard building

  Mulder looked out through the large window. It had only been three weeks
since he left Washington, D.C. And yet it seemed ages already. Everything
seemed slower. The Scotland Yard were interesting, but he missed his small
office in the FBI Headquarters basement.
  His life in London was not as hard as he anticipated. And now the weather
was warmer, he didn't feel so miserable anymore. His door was knocked and a
head popped in.
  "Agent Mulder ? Just want to remind your lunch appointment with Miss Lea
Madison."
  "I won't be late, Miss Raye. I'm just going to check my mails before leaving."
  Clarissa Raye nodded and disappeared. Mulder slipped into his chair in
fornt of his system and checked his mail. He smiled as he saw the expected
mail at the list.

xxx
Dana Scully's residence
4 months after separation

  Scully burried her face in the pillow. It was late midnight, and she had
just waken up abruptly by a nightmare. She sat down and hugged her knees.
<If only he were here..> She remembered how he had held her and soothed her
with a song to sleep. She shook her head. <Enough, Dana
!> She got up from her bed and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Then she went back to her bedroom and sat on her bed. She reached out to get
the tiny music box from her dressing table. She turned it and opened the
lid. The melody flew around the room.
  It has been almost three months since he left for England. And it has been
a month, A MONTH, since his last e-mail. What could possibly happen to him ?
Should she e-mail him ? She shook her head. <No, he's the one who broke the
contact, so he's the one who's supposed to open the channel again !>. But
then her heart sank again.
  Scully laid on her back, covering her eyes with an arm. <No, Dana, you're
not gonna cry. It's not like you !>, her mind screamed. And her tear fell.
  "Fox, I miss you.." she sobbed and covered her face with her two hands.

xxx
Fox Mulder's residence
3 days later

  Mulder brought his mug to his lips and took a sip of coffee. He went to
the window and sat on the frame. He sat his eyes on the blooming pink
tulips. His mind wandered to the deep of his heart and searched for
something that was missing. He felt his pocket and pulled out a semi-circle
metal. The half of the coin. He always brought it in his pocket.
  <Gosh, it's been a month>. He simply couldn't remember that he was the one
who didn't answer her last mail. <Is she okay ?>. He went to his laptop
computer and stared blankly at the screen.
  He hesitated. What if she didn't feel like having a contact with him ?
What if she was busy.. His jealousy rose to his nose. He clicked his mouse
and began to type,

<<Hi Scully,
are you still there ?>>

xxx
FBI National Academy,
Quantico

  Scully took off her plastic glasses. She dumped the rubber gloves into the
wastebasket and washed her hands with an antiseptic soap. The door was
opened and a tall straight man went in.
  "Dr. Scully ? I've been searching for you everywhere. Here's the papers
you told me to prepare." 
  Scully dried her hands and turned at him, at his papers. "You should have
given me this paper yesterday, Mr Gregory."
  "Yes, I'm sorry, Dr. Scully. But you said the oral test is this afternoon."
  "I'm afraid that you cannot go for the test, Mr Gregory. You should have
given me these papers yesterday, so I could prepare the profile. Meet me
tomorrow morning at my office," she said frankly and left the laboratory,
and Kevin Gregory who practically chewed his lips.
  Scully went to her office which she shared with Jason Williams, a medical
doctor who was also a specialist in Forensic Pathology. He wasn't there for
Scully's relieve. She took off her wait labsuit and set her laptop on.
Putting on her glasses, she began to type her report.
  An hour later the door was knocked and opened. Jason Williams stepped in
and smiled at her as he put his briefcase on his desk at the other corner of
the room.
  "Busy, Dana ?"
  Scully looked up at him and smiled,"Just making some reports. I'm giving a
test in an hour."
  "Wow.. And I suppose that it only takes you fifteen minutes to prepare the
questions ?"
  "It's an oral test, Jason."
  "Oh."
  Scully typed again. She saw him drawing some papers in his desk and she
smiled. Jason Williams wasn't a complete stranger for her. They were
recruited by the Bureau at the same time and went through the training
together. And because they were on the same field, it didn't take a long
time for them to be good friends. They were both contented to share a space
in the office. Jason was divorced, and had a seven-year-old son. He
sometimes took him to the office, and Scully really thought that Patrice,
the boy, and Kat would be such a perfect pair.
  "Hey Dana, how is he doing, Spooky ?"
  Scully looked up sharply from her laptop screen. "Mulder ? Well, er.. He's
alright, I hope."
  "What do  you mean, you `hope' ?"
  "Well, I.. I just lost contact with him since a month ago."
  "Really ? How could that be ?"
  "God knows." Her cellphone rang and she answered it. "Scully."
  "Hi Dana, it's Ellen," said a woman in the other edge.
  "Ellen ! Hi ! Did you get my message ?"
  "Yeah, you said you want to talk about something ?"
  "Well, I,, I just need to talk. Tomorrow's Saturday. Can you come to my
place tonight please ?"
  "What a coincidence ! The kids are going with the school camp. I think I
can make it. Okay."
  "That's great ! Thanks a lot, Ellen, I'll see you later then !"
  "Okay." She hung up and turned back to Williams. "That was Ellen, a friend
of mine. Well, what time is it ?" She glaced to her watch. "Oh, I'd better
get going, my students must be waiting ! See you later, Jase !" She
unplugged her laptop and grabbed her needs. Then she left the office without
many fuss. Jason Williams stared at her back amazedly. <How can such a stiff
woman cope with that Spooky Mulder ?>. If Mulder heard him he would have
said, <Well, you don't seem to know
much about Dana.>.

xxx
Fox Mulder's residence
London

  Mulder put on his tie. He was going to see a ballet tonight. With.. <who's
that woman name again ?> He glanced at his notepad. Feline Foster. Scotland
Yard's agents were funny, he thought. They celebrated the case closings.
Like now, Feline Foster, he solved a case of a serial murders with her, and
now they were going to celebrate the case closing, by going to the ballet.
  He opened the box of his tieclip collection. His fingers fell on the
golden fox one. His eyes stared blanky on it and he squeezed the fox figure.
The one Scully had given to him on Christmas. He put it back and took the
other one, the classic one. He had promised that he would only wear that one
in the special occassions.
  He glanced at his laptop computer and sighed. He had checked his mail a
hour ago, and there was still no expected reply.

xxx
Dana Scully's apartment

  "Everything was fine at the beginning, Elle. He sent me e-mails, simple
e-mails, just ask how my days are, and I did the same thing in retuurn. But
he never told me what he did there, I mean, he told me about the cases,
asked my opinion, but he never really said what his life was like there,"
Scully rolled on her bed. She laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. "But
then he suddenly broke the contact. I just worry about him, maybe he's ill
or something."
  "No, Dana, you worry that he's got a blonde beside him in his bed that
kept him away from his computer, I'm sure," mocked Ellen. She laughed when
Scully glared at her. "Is that the music box he gave you ?"
  "Yeah," she handed it to her. Ellen opened the lid and they both kept
silent as the melody filled the air.
  "I'm sure he's got a reason for not contacting you, Dana. Have you checked
your today's mails ?"
  Scully shook her head. "The server has been down since the last 48 hours."
She sighed. "You want me to tell you the truth, Ellen ? What I'm afraid of
is that.." she hesitated,"that he'd meet her again."
  "Phoebe ?"
  Scully nodded without looking at her. Ellen smiled and stroke her
hair,"Dana, pull yourself together. Cheer up ! Now you see that he had taken
a large part in your heart. You should take a profit with his leaving. Open
yourself up ! Jason Williams is a cute one, and he's in the same field as you."
  "Ellen ! Stop matchmaking me with anybody like that !"
  "No, Dana, I mean it. You're getting older all the time, Baby, it's high
time you found a man of your life."
  "Ellen, believe me, I have !" Then she added meekly,"But I've lost him now."
  Ellen watched her in desparation. There was no use trying to make her
forget Fox Mulder.

xxx
Cafetaria
Scotland Yard Building
London
6 months after separation

  "Hold the elevator, Fox."
  Mulder looked at the source of the voice sharply. The tall gaingly woman
stepped into the elevator and touched the 8 button. "Thank you."
Mulder said nothing.
  "Any trouble to readapt with London atmosphere, Fox ?"
  "No, not really. Would you please stop calling me Fox ?"
  The woman turned at her and raised her brows. "Why ? I always called you so."
  "Then forget that you ever called me so," Mulder felt his bloodstream
rushed in his head,"Forget that you've ever known me." The elevator reached
the 6th floor and the door slided open. Mulder was going to stepped out when
her hand held his elbow.
  "Oh," she snorted a smile,"that easy, Fox ? Have you forgotten that you've
known me ?"
  "Yes, I have, Phoebe," he replied without looking at her and left her as
the elevator continued its ascend.

xxx
Dana Scully's apartment
8 months after separation

  Scully woke up in the still of the night. It had become a habit lately.
She sat on her bed, hugging her knees. As she found out that her sleepiness
had gone, she got out of her bed and went to the
balcony. The night wind was cold, it was October already. The sky was
occupied with sparkling stars. Her mind travelled back in time, when she and
him were at the park, at the New Year's eve. The sky was twice as beautiful
than this. A part of it was because Mulder was there with her, wrapping his
arms around her to kept her warm as she leaned on him. Now she was alone.
She had the music box and the half coin in her hand. Those were the two
things that she never left home without.

xxx
Fox Mulder's apartment

  <Dana, I'm here.. Who's that guy, Dana ? Why are you with him ? Dana ?!
Can't you see me ? It's me, Dana ! I'm here !>
  Mulder opened his eyes abruptly and found himself in the darkness. The
winter's moon peeped in and the light fell on him. He glanced at his watch.
Over two o'clock. He remembered Scully fell asleep on his couch after
discussing the case and the paperworks. He got out of his bed and went
outside to the balcony. The night air strucked him and he went back to grab
a sweater.
  Then he went outside again and watched the sky which was covered by
millions sparks.

xxxxx
End of Chapter 8
xxxxx

Somewhere out there beneath the pair moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight
Somewhere out there, someone's singing a prayer
that we'll find one another
and that'll be somewhere out there

And eventhough I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night winds start to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same this sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there, out where dreams come true..

xxxxx

It's a bad one, don't you think ? Well, it' just a bridge for the next
chapters so please..., hang in there. I hope I can finish Chapter 9 soon.
It's not easy when school had started again !
Mail me at erness@indo.net.id for feedbacks. I need them !

xxxxx