From: "Paige Caldwell" Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 21:17:32 EST Subject: xfc: NEW: A Tie to Bind, MSR (1 of 1) Season Seven Spoilers Source: xfc From: "Paige Caldwell" Title: A Tie to Bind Author: Paige Caldwell Feedback: paigecaldwell@hotmail.com Classification: MSR Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: BIG SPOILER WARNING....FOR MILLENIUM AND RUSH... Archive: Please do, just let me know where. Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, damn it! Summary: Needing a touchstone is one thing, but sometimes you need a "tie" to bind.... The scene was all too familiar. Two chronic patients... a hospital emergency room.... Both of us had been injured, our flesh either scratched or torn away by "apocalyptic wannabes". But, beneath the surface, Scully's injury was far worse than mine. I didn't realize it right away, probably because I was the one who inflicted the wound. It was my insensitivity that grazed her, not the claws of the beasts that rose from their graves. A kiss.... I ruined it all. I should have known that I wasn't the type to celebrate the dawn of a new era. I reacted with my own Y2K hysteria. I seized the moment like it was one of my last. I kissed my partner.... What I should have done was grab the nearest crash cart and flat-lined my impulsiveness. But, I was dazzled by a light that had nothing to do with the T.V. screen. It was the warm, luminous glow of Scully's blue eyes that incited such recklessness. I told her once that she was my touchstone. But, Scully was more than just a standard by which I gauged myself. She was the Stonehedge of my existence. Circling me with rock-solid devotion, she was the foundation of my universe. Too bad I thought in terms of legendary landmarks. How easily I transformed my touchstone into the Blarney Stone. Like a silly tourist, I suspended my common sense and leaned over the precipice of doubt to plant a kiss. But, the myth was a lie. I was supposed to be rewarded with the gift of persuasive eloquence. Instead, I offered babble.... Something ridiculous... about the world not ending... that the planets must all be aligned... that Dick Clark was as old as Father Time... While I can't remember my exact words, the memory of her response would haunt me for several millenniums to come. Her fading smile was tragic, but the tragedy was all mine. Or, so I thought.... We continued to work together as effectively in the past, but I began to sense a shift in my partner's equilibrium. At first, I thought it was the tremors of her psyche trying to readjust to a solid ground. She had been through a great deal of spiritual conflict while in Africa. While she wasn't the type to articulate her uncertainty, or rising sense of mysticism, I knew it was there. It didn't take a mind-reader to know that her faith was crumbling under her feet. The only surprise was that she admitted that I was her touchstone, as well. Me.... A man who had no substance... who was tempted by a "creature" who promised "comfort". I had swapped a dream with a nightmare, not believing I deserved better than what was maliciously offered. I wanted to tell Scully that she was wrong to believe... in me... or what I had become. But, I was afraid of losing her. So, I pretended to be a stone. Dense in understanding and petrified by speech... I did and said nothing. Until she performed that little tie maneuver.... We were investigating a case in Pennsylvania about a teenager who allegedly killed a sheriff's deputy with the blunt end of a flashlight. I knew the boy lacked motivation and the force necessary to inflict such a mortal wound. But, what soon diverted my attention was the impetus behind my partner's actions. Trying to persuade me to investigate the boy's friends, her fingers actually picked up the end of my tie... and toyed with it. Looping it around her index finger, she twisted and tugged at my tie as if it was my heart. And, damn if it wasn't my heart bleeding, constricting painfully at the silken texture of her voice... the slow, seductive movement of her fingers. "Do it for me..." she purred. This couldn't be real, I thought. I even considered making another appointment with my neurologist, convinced that I was suffering some type of post-surgical brain lesion. Cigarette Smoking Man's doctor had operated with as much finesse as Dr. Frankenstein. For weeks I had convinced myself that the damage was limited only to the jagged scar beneath my hairline, but perhaps I was deluding myself. It only got worse as we continued our investigation. I, too was experiencing a "rush", but it had nothing to do with the earth's magnetism. Just my partner's.... I was as charged up as any seventeen year old, fueled by testosterone and wearing a bulge in my pants that was more blatantly horizontal than the lines on my tie. Thank God those youngsters kept reminding me that I was too "old" to be ruled by my hormones. And, this aged geezer had learned his lesson well. I was determined to preserve my friendship with Scully, even if it meant I was to become as fossilized as Bob Dole without his Viagra... My "modern maturity" worked just fine...that is, until we arrived back in Washington, D.C. .... It was late. Rather than return to the Hoover Building, I drove Scully home. She had fallen asleep and was tranquilly snoring like Grandma Moses in the passenger seat. Gazing at her open mouth, I searched hopefully for drool. I wanted to be amused, not mesmerized by her quivering lower lip. Damn.... If only she hadn't twiddled my tie.... I was afraid to touch her, knowing that the texture of her soft skin would do more than rock my Casbah. Reaching for the folder that contained our latest "without X-planation" findings, I swatted her arm. She startled in response, which made me feel both stupid and callous. Leaning over her to apologize, I held my breath so I couldn't inhale perfume that affected me like pheromones. When her gaze lazily drifted up to mine, I gasped loud enough to raise the dead... and my flagstaff. Oh no.... Bedroom eyes.... Panicked, I reached past her and opened the car door. "Nite, Scully..." Scully blinked uncertainly. I watched in horror as her luscious mouth formed the most perfect pout... a sign of doom and destruction... even if it only meant my resolve. "Ah, Mulder," she murmured. "It's too late for..." "It's never too late, Scully." I interrupted fervently. "I know I made a huge mistake on New Year's Eve, but we can go back to the way things were... before... well.... you know...." "No, I don't know..." Scully stiffened. She rubbed the back of her neck, demonstrating what a pain I had become. "I was trying to say it was too late for me to walk alone into a darkened building." "Oh..." I muttered, convinced that it was me and not my pistol-packing partner that need protection. "But, don't worry, Mulder," she said in a tight voice, getting out of the car. "I'll be fine." Oh shit, I thought frantically. What have I done now? "Scully.... wait!" I literally crawled across the front seat in my attempt to follow her out the passenger door. My knee slammed into the dashboard and my tie got caught in the shoulder harness. It just figured.... "Scully..." My partner didn't turn around, just lifted her hand in a flippant and final goodbye. By the time I caught up with her, she was inside the building. She didn't bother to acknowledge my limping or my pleas for her to stop. Striding towards the front door of her apartment, she patted her pockets in search of her keys. Unable to find them, she turned around and scavenged the floor with her turbulent eyes. "Lose something, Scully?" "Go home, Mulder. Like you said, it's too late." I knew she was angry. But, I wasn't the only one in the gutter... her keys had fallen there, too. When I dangled them in front of her, she frowned and tried to snatch them from my grasp. "Give me my keys, Mulder..." "No way, Scully..." "Don't make me ask twice." "Tell it to the tie..." I grabbed her hand and guided it to the triangular shaped end. In a cloying voice, I baited her, "Do it for me..." "That's not funny, Mulder." "Then what is it?" Scully dropped her head and said in a low, embarrassed voice. "It was just an accessory... and an ugly one, at that." "The pretense or the tie?" "Both..." she whispered. "I tell you what," I lifted her chin with the tips of my fingers. "If you'll drop the one, I'll let you lead me by the other." "To what end?" Scully remonstrated. "The world?" "That's not what I meant, Scully." "What did you mean, Mulder?" "You are my world.... and if you'll just give my tie a little tweak, I'll prove it." I guess I should have known better. Scully yanked my tie so hard that I practically toppled over. But, instead of my mouth landing on hers, it hit lower... grazing the tip of her breast. And, that ain't no blarney.... "Ah...Scully..." I gasped in a half-strangled voice. "You're choking me, here." My partner only laughed softly. Holding fast to my tie, she unlocked the door to her apartment and led me inside. The End...