OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE Katya at... efalkner@bssc.edu.au She sat, her legs crossed over one another , the room was dark save the rays of sunlight that shone through THE WINDOW. Mulder crouched down and cocked his head bringing his face in centimetres away from hers. "Scully ?," he asked bewildered. "She won't respond the youth said walking closer, his shoes tapping the hardboard floor as he moved. "Why .. I mean ..What's she ?..." Mulder said looking up towards the man. "She's meditating ," the youth said matter of factly. "Meditating ?" "Yeah, she's in a state of non consciousness, it is my belief she is having an out of body experience." "She's left her body ?" "Yeah you're Mulder right ?" "Mr SPOOKY," he said chuckling. "Um, yeah," Mulder replied slightly annoyed. He hated being called 'spooky.' "okay man, well she can't," he moved towards her and moved his hand up and down in front of her closed eyes. "She can't see you." "That's creepy. What'd you say your name was?" "Mattèew" "Nica to!det }ou Matthew." Š"Don't look so alermed( it's a perfectly natural state to be in." ".. I .. I've nevmr seen her like this before," he said still looking wary. "Is it safe ?" " Why sure it is, it's saæer than chasing little green men," Mathew said walking to!the kitcien ald grabbiîg a packet kæ0íA|ôesers, " Out of body experiences don't just happen wheî you#re dead yOu know she'sas living aS we are.. here." He gòabbed Muhder'ó wrist.$Mqlder lookee at him. He reached Out with one hand putting the maltesers down and undid one of the buttons on Scully's shirt. He slid Mulder's hand through and it caMa to rest just beneath her left breaSt. Mulder(cleared hiw throat and took his hand away. "She looks so peaceful, so still." Mathew nkdded and went over to the table picking up a set of car keys and headed for the door "Great meeting you man, I gotta fly see you again some time." "Sure bye." Mathes was gone, Mulder picked up the box of maltesers and ate one. He went kver to the sofa and sat down. He had wanted to discuss a case with Scully. He wondered how long she would stay like that for, it unnerved him. It reminded him of when *they* had taken her away from from him and she nearly died. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as movement caught his attention. Dana awoke out of her meditational state. She stretched her arms out0and looked up. ".. Mulder, hi, where's Mat?" Mulder went to speak but was lost for words, a slight smile and averted his gaze, "he.. um.." He cleared his throat again, "he left about a half an hour ago/" Scully gave him a questioning stare "Mulder." Mulder didn't reply he just watched a[!her paüe skin turned brigèt red qs ;he lookee low> and saw that the top 3 buttons on her shirt were undone. .g 0Hgw.. never Mint," sle said watchkng)him turn and blush as he thought of hïw ridiculous it sounded also because she had caught him staring. "I was just meditating," she explained. She felt his gaze upon her as she attempted to do up her blouse and quietly cursed under her breath as she fumbled with the buttons. "You want pizza?" He asked. "It's okay, I'm cookin'," Matthew said making an entrance with several grocery bags. "This guy Dana," he said nodding towards Mulder who was awkwardly standing in the middle of the room," he is so paranoid," he said shaking his head as he arranged the groceries in the fridge. "I know Scully replied. She walked past Mulder and squeezed his arm reassuringly. "He thought you might be comatose or something," Mathew said laughing. " Does this guy ever loosen up ?" He hung his head and blushed. He was being humiliated and there wasn't a thing he could do about it. He suddenly had the urge to run out the door fleeing like a little kid. How could he say such things. Mathew didn't know about the things they did to Scully. He suddenly felt angry, how dare he laugh at him, it had hurt so much when they had taken Scully and returned her in a coma. He was sure she would die, he had felt so hopeless watching her die and knowing there was nothing he could do to help her. Scully noticed her change in mood. < I have to do something to distract him> she thought. "Mulder I need you to come and look at a field report for me," she said guiding him into the bedroom. She sat him down on the bed and lowered her voice so Mathew couldn't hear. " Mulder calm down he's really not that bad." " To hell he is," Mulder said breathing hard, trying to control himself. She shut the door. " Dammit Mulder, what's your problem ?," she half yelled. " Scully, he's mocking me.. ever since I got here he's been laughing at me and calling me spooky." " That's what's wrong ?," she asked confused. " I don't get it, everybody laughs at you and calls you spooky it's never upset you this much before." He raised his voice again " YEAH WELL MA..." " Hi guys dinners ready, you gotta come and watch sliders," he said bursting in the door. " Thankyou Mathew, well be there in a minute," Dana said politely smiling. Mat went back to the kitchen. " Try to be nice," Scully said to Mulder icily and left the room. They sat in silence watching sliders and eating the meal Mathew had prepared. Mulder wasn't hungry. He returned his food to the kitchen and sat back down in his chair fidgeting. Scully and Mathew had finished eating. " Hey, you want me to read you're palm," Mathew said smiling and grabbing Scully's hand. " Sure," she smiled back. " I see a tall.. dark stranger.. he brings love." " Really," Scully said trying to sound like a believer. " Yeah, and this is you're life line, and this line means that you are going to have a lot of money, you could end up very rich." "Mulder watched them feeling extremely left out and lonely, Mat was so phoney. " And this..." Mat said lowering the tone of his voice and moving in closer," Is your Love line. It has a very recent profound line after a long break," he said tracing the line on her hand. He planted a kiss on her hand. Scully smiled politely. Then he leaned in and kissed her neck. "Mat.." Scully said trying to object but Mat straddled her on the sofa and was kissing her lips so she couldn't speak, she tried to throw him off but he had her pinned down. He started undoing the buttons on her shirt. She tried to speak but couldn't, she was defenceless. " GET THE HELL OFFA HER," Mulder yelled throwing Mat to the floor. Mathew got up and raised his hands submissively . " I'm sorry man, I didn't mean anything, I just wanted a kiss." " SONOFABITCH ! get out of here," he shouted opening the door and chucking Matts things out into the hall. " I didn't mean anything man honest," Mat said. " Here," Mulder said handing Mat a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet, " Go find yourself a hotel." " Thanks man, like I said I'm real sorry," he said leaving. Mulder shut the door. Scully was sitting there not moving. She was thinking about Brother Andrew, she felt exactly the same way now as she had then.. confused, hurt and humiliated. Mulder moved toward her. " Scully are you okay ?" he asked his voice and face full of compassion. " I'm fine Mulder," she said icily getting up and pushing past him into the kitchen. She started clearing up the mess from dinner. He could tell she wasn't okay. Mulder left her in the kitchen and made his way to the bathroom. Scully finished clearing up, she was still a bit shaken by what had happened. Now Mulder was gone she attempted to do her buttons up for the second time today. She wondered how they had become undone this afternoon when she had been meditating. She could hear water running. She walked to the bathroom. "Mulder, what are you doing?" she said, standing in the doorway. "I'm drawing your bath", he said, flashing her a grin. "Mulder....I...I... don't want a bath." "Sure you do, look, i even found your favourite bath crystals, scented, make you smell nice." "Are you implying that i smell bad? " she said, smiling at him, hands on hips. Mulder turned off the water. He looked towards her. He suddenly looked very alive and excited, like he did at the start of a case. He moved forward as Scully watched him and leaned in, engulfing her in a cuddle, nuzzling his face in her hair and inhaling. He hugged her hard, feeling happy for the first time all week and then he stepped away. " You smell like Dana, you smell great." She blushed and he left the room. Dana spent an hour in the bath. All the happenings of the day left her. She felt extremely refreshed. Scully dried off her hair with her towel and came out of the bathroom and into her room while tightening the belt on her robe. She stopped in the doorway suprised to see that Mulder hadn't left. " Hi Mulder," she said grabbing her hairbrush from her draw. He looked up staring intensely at her. " What is it ?" she asked drawing her robe tighter around herself relieved that it hadn't loosened or come undone. " Dana... I just want you to know that you don't have to be embarrassed around me," he said staring intensely into her eyes searching them. " I...she went to answer him but couldn't, she moved away and took her clothes into the bathroom to change. She came out a few minutes later. Mulder thought. " Do you want me to go ?" Mulder asked. " They're replaying the Superbowl," she said walking past him into the lounge, grabbing the remote and flicking on the t.v. " If you leave now you'll miss it." She sat down and Her dog jumped onto her lap. Mulder sat next to her and patted the dog, it yapped happily. " Mulder I..." she suddenly felt extremely tired and her response to his statement earlier left her. " I know he said reaching up and holding his hand to the side of her face affectionately. She closed her eyes momentarily and then kept them closed. Her lids felt heavy, she was so tired. She wished she could just curl up and go to sleep. As if sensing this Mulder pulled her gently into his arms and drew his arms loosely around her waist. She wanted to say something but he stopped her. "Shhh," he said patting her hair. She shivered as he kissed the top of her head and fell asleep in his arms...=20 End All comments welcome to Katya at... efalkner@bssc.edu.au