From: Laura S <xlilymoon@yahoo.de>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:11:24 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Walk the Line by Lily Moon
Source: direct

Story: Walk the Line (1/1)

Author: Lily Moon

Rating: PG

Timeline/Spoiler: Season 5-ish

Category: S, A, MSR

Disclaimer: Not making money, just having fun.

Feedback: (please) xlilymoon@yahoo.de

Summary: Something happened.

Author's Notes: This one actually occurred to me because of a post 
over at the haven. Someone asked if there were any fic where Scully 
waits around the Gunmens' office and falls asleep while doing so. 
Funny what things inspire you. Well, the story took on a life of its 
own and this is what came out of it.

****

The door opened just as she was about to ring the bell. Her finger 
stopped mid-air as she took in the sight before her.

It was Langley wearing blue overalls and a yellow helmet. His hair was 
nowhere to be seen and his lanky frame looked a little lost in the 
baggy piece of clothing.

"Scully," he said as a way of greeting, looking clearly embarrassed.

"Langley, can I talk to you for a second?" She ignored his outfit in a 
hurry to get to the point.

"Actually I was just off to visit my mother. I'm running a little 
late. Can't this wait?"

"It's about Mulder. Are Frohike or Byers there?" Her tone was 
bordering on impatient.

"No, they are on the road, but they should be back by tonight. Is this 
very important?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Would I be here otherwise?" she huffed.

"Fine, fine, but I don't know anything about Mulder's where-abouts or 
plans and I haven't talked to him in about two weeks," he said and 
ushered her in.

"Do Byers or Frohike know anything?"

"I don't know. I've been out a lot these last weeks to help my mother 
move." He locked the door with the usual bolt-and-chain routine. Then 
he looked at her. "What is this about anyway?"

She made a vague gesture with her hands. "He didn't attend something 
he better should have. He isn't answering his cell phone and it 
doesn't look like he spent the night at his apartment."

Langley shrugged. "Doesn't sound new to me."

Her eyebrow almost touched her hairline.

The gunman raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, it's urgent and not 
my business. I get it." He walked over to a table full of equipment 
and starte up one of the computers. "I'll try calling the two," he 
said and replaced the helmet with a very futuristic looking headset. 
She noticed that his neat ponytail was tucked into his collar.

She positioned herself next to him and peered over his shoulder while 
he was typing away on his keyboard. Soon a sound similar to a dial 
tone came through the loudspeakers. Then they had a connection.

"Mary had a little lamb," Langley said.

"Hi bro, what's up?" Frohike's voice crackled with static.

"Isis is here looking for Osiris." He ignored Scully's bewildered 
stare.

"Big O's in da house. Back at noon, bro," Frohike announced through a 
new fit of interferences.

"Sure, later," Langley said before typing again and finally taking off 
the headset. "Mulder is with them and they'll be back shortly. Frohike 
wasn't specific."

"He said noon," Scully observed, regarding her counterpart a little 
oddly.

"Well, that means shortly," Langley replied as if it was the most 
normal thing in the world. "Do you mind if I take off? You are free to 
wait around."

She let her eyes pass sceptically over the dimly lit office.

"If you promise not to touch anything, of course," the gunman added 
not very seriously and put his helmet on again.

"Yeah, okay," she reluctantly agreed taking another look around.

"There's something to drink in the fridge back there and you can help 
yourself with the magazines," he pointed at a very messy clutter in 
front of their couch that appeared to be masking an actual coffee 
table. "They should be back real soon."

"Thanks," she said as she watched him open the bolts and other 
security requirements trapping the door.

"You can leave those open. I take it that you're carrying your weapon 
and will shoot any burglar." He was only half-kidding.

His hand was on the doorknob when she had to aks, "Why Isis and 
Osiris, Langley?"

He turned back to her, grin in place. "Osiris is god of the 
underworld. Mulder practically lives in his basement office."

"And Isis because she is the wife of Osiris?" She watched him 
suspiciously.

Langley literally squirmed. "Well, you know, her name also means queen 
of the throne." He shuffled his feet. "We found it fitting at the 
time."

"I bet," she muttered.

"See you." He all but bolted out the door.

~~~

Bright light woke her from her slumber and she blinked a few times to 
adjust to the white glare. Then she saw Mulder, Frohike and Byers who 
had apparently just arrived. They were all staring at her.

"Well, if it isn't Sleeping Beauty," Frohike quipped taking his hand 
off the light switch. "To what do we owe this very delectable 
surprise?"

That was all cue she needed. She swung her legs from the couch and 
almost rammed her feet into her pumps. Then she stood up, rising to 
her full height plus four inches, and glared at Mulder who had the 
decency to look at least a little guilty. "And where have you been 
exactly?"

"Uh, well, there was this important..."

"Oh, it better be important, Mulder," she interrupted him. "It better 
be a goddamn emergency."

"Yeah, well, Frohike and Byers needed help with..."

"Uh-uh, Mulder," Frohike said. "You better leave us out of there." The 
two gunmen took a few steps back, apparently ducking out of the line 
of fire."

Scully eyed Mulder wearily. "I'm waiting."

His teeth gnawed on his lower lip. "I... well, it seemed important at 
the time. There was an apparent ufo-sighting corresponding with our 
latest case, so we went out there."

"You did?" She looked ready to lash out at him. "And did you even once 
think of our hearing? Of our impending suspensions? Of our conjoint 
stake in this?"

He didn't say anything.

"Jesus, Mulder, this hearing may have been the most important one for 
us so far, for the survival of our partnership and for the continuity 
of the x-files. Does that ring a bell?"

Frohike and Byers were clearly uncomfortable with the situation, but 
even so, they were watching the interaction between the FBI agents 
raptly.

"Scully, they weren't serious with their allegations. They couldn't 
have been. They have tried to undermine our work so many times, to 
find a justification to separate us. Do you really think that 
fraternization between partners is what it is going to come down to? 
That this is going to be the one valid reason for closing the x-files 
if all the others haven't been? It's ridiculous, Scully, and they know 
it. They want to mock us. They are creating something here and they 
know they won't find any grounds for it."

"You think so?" she muttered. She pulled a stack of photos out of her 
briefcase and flung them in his general direction. The pictures landed 
scattered across the floor, most of them with their glossy sides up, 
displaying very intimate shots - several of Mulder sinking his teeth 
into her neck while her thighs were around his hips and his lower 
extremities were definitely buried in her mons; and a few others of 
Scully bent over a desk, black bar censoring the general area of her 
tits and Mulder moving above her; then some of them kissing in a car 
while clearly on stake-out.

The gunmen let curious eyes wander over the pictures, but Scully was 
beyond caring. "No grounds for it, Mulder? Think again."

He quickly scanned the pictures and glanced back up at her. "They 
didn't!"

"Apparently they did. And apparently they had the right to." She 
displayed an official looking document. "It has even been signed by 
the director of the FBI," she said.

"What the fuck?"

"That's what I thought for the major part of the day: What the fuck is 
happening? Where the fuck is Mulder? Why the fuck isn't he here? Why 
doesn't he pick up his phone? Why am I being humiliated in front of 
the whole fucking FBI committee?" Her eyes were shooting daggers at 
him.

Mulder looked shocked. "Scully, I really thought this was a fluke."

"Yeah, but even if you thought that, you could have had the decency to 
make an appearance or at least give me a call, so I could account for 
your absence. Do you know what picture I made in that damn hearing 
room?" Her fury was giving way to a deep weariness and the gunmen 
seemingly thought it best to retreat as they both backed away into the 
nether regions of their cramped little realm.

Mulder's expression was one of shame. "I'm sorry, Scully. I really am. 
We can fix this, right?"

She shook her head and looked away from him. "I don't know that we 
can, Mulder. I think they finally have something in their hands. Those 
pictures were all taken when we were on duty."

"I know. I was there," he sighed. "Whatever did we think?"

"We didn't," she said, her lips in a thin line. "And everyone knows."

"We shouldn't pay too much attention to their judgement. Scully, those 
people are all idiots. We have known that for a long time."

"But they have a point here, Mulder. We were on duty and we got 
carried away, several times. If anything crucial had happened at the 
time, we would have been incapacitated. Especially in that car. Maybe 
we should pay a lot of attention to this. Maybe we have let ourselves 
go one too many times lately."

"So you're saying that we have no right to fight this?" he asked 
carefully.

She nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"But they will twist it around and make it seem like our work is not 
valid. This has nothing to do with the importance of the x-files and 
that is the misconception we should fight against."

"Yeah, but how will we be credible after this? Especially after today 
when you didn't even see it fit to make an appearance."

"But I didn't think they would be serious. I thought they were just 
bluffing."

"Because they didn't have evidence or because they didn't have a 
point?" Her look challenged him.

"Because they didn't have evidence," he admitted. "Okay, they do have 
a point. So what do you think we should do?"

"First of all, attend the hearing they rescheduled for tomorrow," she 
said reasonably, then she looked at her nails. "And maybe we should 
take some time off from each other. We are probably a little too close 
to each other right now."

"What?" He actually looked scared. "Too close? There's no such thing 
as that."

"Maybe not for you, but I can't even keep my professionalism around 
you. That sounds too close to me."

He crossed the room, careful not to step on the photos. Then he stood 
in front of her and grabbed her arms. "But you only mean time-off, 
right? You are not talking about break-up?"

There were tears in her eyes. "Well, how could I, right? How could I 
talk about that when my world revolves around nothing more than you 
and the quest?"

"Is that how you feel?" he asked, horrified.

"I'm not sure anymore, Mulder. This has been a wild ride, especially 
recently with the... ah added baggage and we never talk. I'm not sure 
this is enough anymore. I think I need some time to think this 
through," she said.

"No, let's try to work it out right here. We can make this work."

She searched his eyes. "How?"

"Scully... Scully...," but he couldn't find the words and so he leaned 
in and crushed her with kisses. And she responded, desperately wanting 
to believe.

****

Thanks for reading and I hope it was to your liking. In fact, tell me 
if it was or not. Please! ;o) xlilymoon@yahoo.de

Also, check out my website: http://www.geocities.com/xlilymoon