From: Heather Stone Date: 2 Nov 1998 13:26:40 GMT Subject: NEW: "Transitional Phase" (1/1) Title: Transitional Phase Author: Heather Stone ao662@hwcn.org Rating: G Summary: Mulder's take on the new office. Feedback: yes, Yes, YES! Please and Thank you. Archive: Anywhere, just let me know first Author's Notes: This is a companion piece to "Fresh Start," but you really don't need to read that to understand this. If you would like to read it and you can't find it anymore, just e-mail me and I'd be happy to send it to you! Thank yous are in order my wonderful friends (and beta readers) Jenn, Annie, and Shipper. You ladies know I love you right? "Transitional Phase" by Heather Stone The new poster is hung with complete precision. It is completely centred on the wall, a perfect foot from the adjacent wall on the right side, a perfect foot from the window to the left of it. I bet she used a ruler. Not even Scully could be so naturally precise. Four neat thumbtacks press into each corner, holding it securely in place. I suppose she used this method of hanging it because in the long run it would probably do least damage to the fresh paint on the walls. I'm glad. I don't want to leave too many marks in this office. I appreciate the thought behind Scully's gesture, but I really wish she had not done it. I know that she wants me to feel at home here in the new office, and she thought that putting up that damn "I Want to Believe" poster would help. It doesn't. I was a little surprised when Scully presented me with the poster yesterday, rolled up neatly and tied with a little green bow. I was even more surprised this morning when I arrived to find that she had put it up herself. I always thought she resented the poster. If she didn't, maybe she should have. The glossy print bears a declaration of my credo, not hers. It glared imposingly at her every time she looked over at me sitting behind my desk. It was one of the more blatant reminders that she was in *my* office, working on *my* work, throwing her own career in the toilet. Part of me wants to get comfortable up here in the new office in all its freshly painted glory. Not for my own sake of course-- I couldn't care less about the tasteful office decor-- but for hers. When she first saw the office she beamed. For just a moment her face broke into one of the widest smiles I have ever witnessed. It didn't last long though. All she had to do was turn and face me, see my reaction to the office, and she quickly hid her joy. She even muttered derogatively about how small the office was. It's a nice little arrangement really. She hides her thrill at the normality of the office, and I hide my distaste of it. She thinks I hate this new office. She thinks I am unhappy here. She is right. But I don't think she understands why I don't want to fit in up here. It isn't because the office and the assignments are so damn *conventional.* Not that those things don't bother me... I don't want to get comfortable here because I know we won't be here long. I see this as a temporary situation. It won't be long before we, or more accurately *I*, do something to get us shoved back into another one of the bureau's hiding places where everyone can try and forget our, or more accurately *my*, existence. She can't possibly believe that this will last. We've been out of the mainstream for so long now that I don't think we'll ever be able to fit back in up here. Our assignment in domestic terrorism over the summer certainly proved that. Besides, I loathe trying to act respectable and play nice with the other agents. Sooner or later something in me is going to give, and no poster is going to have the power to hold it all together. I'll leave the poster where it is for now though. If I removed it Scully would be hurt, and that is the last thing I want. I may as well let her enjoy this office for as long as she can. I am trying to be a co-operative little special agent. I don't want to make things hard for Scully. I am just so happy to have her back with me, and I want her to be happy to be back too. I want to believe that I can make things work out up here. I just don't have much confidence in my ability to do that. Although maybe, just maybe, Scully has enough for the both of us. ************************************************************* I live for feedback. It's a little sad really. Please let me know what you thought! That address once again is ao662@hwcn.org