I love in-the-dark conversations since so much is left to the reader's imagination. Here's another.

By the way, the factory that I describe in this story is a plastic injection-molding factory I worked in back in the '80s.

The title means light after the darkness.

Spoilers: None.

Summary: Pinned down in pitch darkness Mulder and Scully share their thoughts on their partnership and feelings for each other.

Thanks again to Marissa for beta'ing.

Post Tenebras Lux

Suzanne L. Feld

Rated PG-13

"I don't fucking believe this."

"You've said that several times already, Scully. With variations on the F-word."

"It's because I don't. You knew damn well that this might happen but no, you have to go rushing in where fools fear to tread."

"That's me, the fool-fearing treader."

"You may think that this is amusing, Mulder, but I do not. God only knows how long we may be here; they could have reinforcements coming and we know we don't. Because we never call for backup."

"I'm just glad none of the cell phones work."

"Glad for them, not so much for us."

"Well, it works both ways. They can't call for reinforcements, but then of course neither can we."

Two sets of eyes peered out at the cavernous black space before them. It was the main floor of a factory just outside Baltimore and, probably, normally bustling with workers around the two long rows of huge machines that lined the cinderblock and corrugated steel walls. Each machine had a large steel table set in front of it, which was bolted to the floor. Tonight it was the scene of a tense standoff between a pair of FBI agents and a trio of drug smugglers/dealers caught in the act of preparing a new cocaine or heroin shipment for sale—with all five pinned down where they were.

Before late afternoon light from the tilted overhead windows had faded to zero visibility Mulder and Scully had seen that the drug dealers had no way out as they were equally pinned down behind a machine across a wide space two rows up. To get to the only known door, any of them would have to cross the open floor and, when the dealers had tried, the agents' gunshots convinced them to take cover behind a huge machine that did who-knew-what. The steel table that the dealers had been working on when Mulder and Scully had walked in on them was riddled with bullet holes, the drugs and paraphernalia blown everywhere, but luckily it was bolted to the floor so they hadn't been able to use it as a shield to make their way out with. They had returned fire, causing the agents to also hide behind a machine, and responded to demands to put down their guns with more shots that pinged far too close.

Mulder and Scully had each taken turns investigating as far as they could in the pitch darkness but the result was the same. No one dared use flashlights for the obvious reason of giving away their position and, apparently, either none of the perps knew where the lights were or didn't dare move from cover to turn them on. A chance ricochet had taken out the emergency lights over the doorway as well.

Stalemate.

"So, Mulder, are you relieved or annoyed that this wasn't the scene of an alien autopsy?" Scully's voice was low, just enough for her partner to hear. They were sitting on the hard cement floor with their backs resting against the machine, shoulders brushing. Both still had their guns out, safety on, and resting in their laps.

"Hmph. At least now Skinner won't have our hides. For once it is a legit case."

"That's not much solace right now. I'd rather be in Skinner's office getting chewed out than stuck here for God only knows how long being shot at."

"And I'm thinking it's a good thing that it's a Saturday night and we don't have to worry about workers coming in. I'd rather we figure our way out of this than have innocent civilians involved."

"Oh, and you know Skinner will have our hides anyway once he sees that we went in without backup. Or probable cause. I mean, we didn't even know what was really going on until we got close enough to see what they were doing."

"Only you and I know that."

"And we're not going to lie about it."

"Party pooper."

"Well, I guess we don't have to tell them that you were looking for aliens..."

"That's my girl."

"You call me a girl again and I make no promises for your safety when I can see where you are."

Silence for a time. Then, "I have so got to go to the bathroom."

"Good luck with that, Mulder. I'm glad that I wasn't the one who drank an entire bottle of soda on the drive over."

"Gee, Scully, aren't you Little Miss Sympathy tonight."

"And you expected what else?!"

"Ssh! We don't need them to start shooting in this general direction again."

"Sorry. True."

"Damn, this is darker than that night we spent out on Heuvelmann's Lake. I thought that was bad, but at least we had starlight to see by."

"You start talking about a peg leg again and I may shoot you."

"You gotta find me first. Ouch!"

"I know right where you are, Mulder. And unless you want another heel in the shin, cut it out."

Silence for a time. Then, "Scully, I don't mean to be indelicate, but I can't hold it. I'm going to walk down to the end of the machine and, uh, go there."

"Oh all right, Mulder. Just don't go too far, we don't want to get separated."

A short time later she heard breathing and tensed, but then her partner's low voice came out of the pitch black. "Where are you, Scully? I counted steps and you should be—uh, oops."

"Sit your ass down, Mulder, because the next time you poke me, even accidentally, will be your last."

She felt Mulder settle down next to her, his shoulder solid against hers. Though she'd never tell him, having him back and touching her was a great comfort in the Stygian darkness.

"Good thing neither of us suffers from nyctophobia," she said conversationally some time later. "We'd go screaming off into the dark and probably knock ourselves cold running into something."

"Too bad they're not," Mulder grumbled from beside her. "Be helpful if they did something like that."

Scully huffed a long sigh. "God, I hope we don't have to sit here until it gets light out," she said. "We've only been here what, maybe an hour?"

"If that, since it got too dark to see," Mulder said glumly. She heard his clothes rustle and shoulder move, then he settled down next to her again.

"What'd you just do?"

"Took off my tie and unbuttoned my shirt a little. May as well get comfortable sitting here."

"That's one of the ties I wouldn't mind you losing in the dark," she snickered low.

"Hey! Don't pick on my tie collection… okay, quick, which one is it?"

"The maroon one with the weird paisley designs," she replied promptly. "I always thought of them as a cross between sperm and amoebas."

From beside her came a muted, choking laugh. "Right on the first try. So you always notice what I'm wearing?"

"We're trained to as cops, Mulder, as if you don't know that. I bet you can tell me what I'm wearing."

"Your tan pants suit, brown shirt, gold earrings, of course your cross, plain nylons, and those ungodly high black heels."

"See? Training."

"Scully, I notice what you're wearing no matter what," he said in a low, husky voice. "That's not from being trained to do it, either."

She hesitated, and then couldn't resist saying, "And why is that, Mulder?"

"Oh come on, Scully. You're only one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I can't help noticing you."

Momentarily bemused, she raised her eyebrows even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Me? Seriously?"

"Of course, you. How can you not know that?"

"I'm not ugly, granted, Mulder, but beautiful? Missy was the beauty of the family."

"She was pretty but not like you, Scully. You're… you're incandescent. Regal. Stunning."

She had no idea what to say for a moment, never having guessed he saw her in quite that way. "Mulder… thank you. I just never realized you saw me as anything other than the annoying partner who does nothing but second-guess you."

"Put your hand out," he said, and she did. He bumped her arm then slid down and took hold of hers in a warm firm grasp, and then lowered them to his leg. "Scully, maybe because it's dark and I can't see your face that I've suddenly gotten brave enough to tell you this. You really are stunningly, exquisitely beautiful. A lot of it is your personality, your strength and sense of purpose, but physically you're gorgeous too. Especially your lips and your patrician nose and your striking eyes… not to mention a few other attributes I don't want to get smacked for."

She smiled in the dark, trying to ignore the burn of a fierce blush on her entire face. "Uh, thank you again? I really don't know what to say."

"My mom always told me to accept a compliment gracefully," his muted voice rumbled out of the darkness.

"I can't go against the wisdom of Teena Mulder," she said flippantly, trying to lighten the mood. "Besides which, Mulder, you're no slouch in the looks department yourself."

She felt him shrug. "I've never understood why women are attracted to me," he admitted. "I mean, I'm tall and I keep myself in shape and I have all my hair but other than that, I don't get it. I've got a huge honker and big lips and a tiny chin, and my eyes are always changing color from what I've been told."

"It all works to make a very handsome, sensual face," she said, giving as good as she got. "Something about you is very charismatic… a women looks at you and knows instinctively that you'd be a wonderful, caring lover."

His hand tightened on hers for an instant, then relaxed again. "Do you think that about me, Scully?"

She froze, catching her breath. Though she wanted to dissemble, something told her that this wasn't the time for untruths. "Yes," she whispered. "I know you'd be. Women can tell about things like that."

"Hmmmn." They sat in silence for a few beats, Scully almost afraid of what he'd say next. "I'd like to think I am. I mean, I always try to make sure a woman is… satisfied… if I can. But God, it's been so long I'm not sure I remember how to do it anymore."

That broke the tension and they both laughed quietly. "I know what you mean," Scully confessed. "It's been at least three years for me."

"A little less for me, but not for lack of opportunity," Mulder said. "I had a one-night-stand during the time you were missing, but it was awful and I haven't even been tempted to do it again."

Scully was surprised to hear him admit that, but even more so that it had been so long for him. "I can't do one night stands anymore," she admitted. "I had a few when I first went away to college but I always felt so bad afterward that I stuck to committed relationships after that. And I have had precious few of those."

"I think I've only been in three real relationships," he said, his voice grave. "Phoebe ended badly. I haven't had a lot of luck with women," he added glumly.

"I could tell that Phoebe really hurt you," Scully said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "I've been lucky, none of my breakups were acrimonious, more like an agreement that our time together was done."

"She... she was kind of freaky, sexually, and when I didn't always want to go along with her she'd play mean head games with me. The other two... well, one was my high school girlfriend and we know how those relationships just seem to peter out when you both go off to college. The last one, we were engaged and she just walked out on me and took a job overseas. Since then I haven't dated much, I've been content concentrating on the work."

"When I started working with you I was living with a guy," Scully said, though she'd never told him about Ethan before. "But once my hours on the X-Files got so crazy that I started missing dates and not being home for days on end, he left. I don't really miss him per se, though sometimes I do miss having a warm body in bed with me at night."

"Sorry to hear that, Scully," Mulder said, giving her hand a squeeze in return. "Guess neither of us is good at relationships."

She sighed. "Our years together are the longest I've ever been with anyone outside of my family," she admitted.

"Ah, we're like cheese and crackers, Scully, we're good together or apart," he said in an amused tone. Then, on a more serious note, "I've had a better relationship with you than I've ever had with anyone else. I'd never jeopardize it, you know that, right?"

"You mean by us getting romantically involved?"

She heard him catch his breath. "Yee-ahhh," he said slowly. "Does that bother you, Scully?"

"What, you mean that you don't want to jump my bones here in the dark? What makes you think I'd let you?"

"You seemed okay with Eddie Van Blundht kissing you," he said in a carefully neutral tone.

"I was taken aback, Mulder. I'd never really looked at you—he—that way before. Yes, I would have let you-slash-him kiss me, but it was going no further, that much I can assure you of. I learned my lesson about getting involved with co-workers after Jack."

"Hmn. So you think I'm handsome and would be a good lover but won't get involved with me because we work together?"

"You've said as much, Mulder. I think we're in agreement there."

He gave her hand a final squeeze and then his disappeared and she put hers back in her lap, curling her fingers around the barrel of her Sig. "I guess then—"

They both heard a faint but audible rustling sound in the distance and froze, guns in hand, but it faded away without repeating and they relaxed. "Sounds like they're still out there. Think we should try to negotiate with them again?"

"And get shot at some more? If nothing else, one of those ricochets could either hit us or blow up an acetylene tank or whatever else is in here," Scully whispered. "I have no idea what this factory does, but I thought I saw some welding equipment when we came in."

A sigh from beside her. They sat in silence for a while, and then his low voice came out of the darkness again. "Hey... maybe I could go behind this machine, in the back near where I went, and use the display on my cell phone to see where I'm going since it's not very bright. If I remember the layout right, and I know I do, I should be able to get near the front and we can flank them."

Scully thought about it for a moment. "Worth a try. Better than just sitting here in the dark, that's for sure. We could be here all night at this rate."

"Have your flashlight out and ready to turn on, we can blind them with the sudden light."

"It'll blind us too," Scully hissed.

"Don't shoot until you can see. My eyes will be used to the light a little more and I'll cover them. Do you have one or two pairs of handcuffs?"

"Just one. Who knew we'd be running into these dirtbags?"

"Me too. Damn."

"We can handcuff two of them together around the leg of one of the tables that are bolted to the floor. Hopefully we can get a cell phone signal outside, if not one of us can stay and the other can drive to where we can call for backup."

Mulder nodded although Scully couldn't see him in the dark. "That'll work. Let's do this, G-woman." He reached out and found her hand again, and they squeezed each other before letting go.

She felt him moving next to her then the warmth and pressure of his shoulder was gone. Taking a deep breath, she laid the gun in her lap then reached into the inside pocket of her blazer and found her Maglite, taking it out and holding it in her left hand while her right hand picked up the Sig Sauer again, brushing her thumb against the safety to make sure that it was still on. Bracing her back against the cool metal of the machine, she pushed herself to her feet and stared unseeingly into the darkness before her. Scully much preferred being braced and ready for action than just sitting around, though some of the things they had talked tonight were difficult not to think about. But she knew she didn't dare be distracted at this time.

Then she saw a faint glow in the distance and, pointing her flashlight towards it, flipped it on even as Mulder yelled, "FBI! We're armed! Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

The blinding beam hit the machine across from her and, squinting, Scully swiftly moved it to point out on the floor, where she saw moving figures and the flashes of gunfire even as the deafening, echoing reports reached her ears. She didn't dare fire since she was unsure of Mulder's location and still partially blinded, instead moving towards the end of the machines and yelling warnings similar to what he had.

As her eyes adjusted to the brighter light, Scully saw one of the shadowy figures across the room go down and an unfamiliar voice yelled, "I'm hit! Stop shooting!" The other two tossed away their guns, which clanged on the cement floor, and put their arms up.

"Get on your knees and put your hands on your head," Mulder shouted, and as she watched he moved carefully out into the open with his gun and flashlight held steady on the two figures that were lowering themselves to the floor.

Knowing where Mulder was, she also broke cover and stepped out into the open, gun and flashlight held steady in the classic stance, and stepped over to the opposite side of the suspects. "You okay, Mulder?" she said, not taking her eyes off the two men. The third was rolling on the floor on his back and she could see that both of his hands were on one leg, which he was holding bent up against his body.

"Is he okay? I'm the one who's shot!" the suspect yelled.

"Shut up, asshat! Zero point energy here, Scully, how about you?"

"Same. Okay, you two, knee-walk over to that table and clasp your hands around the leg." She gestured with the flashlight beam.

Once he had looped the chain and cuffed the pair together around a leg of the table Scully went to check on the wounded suspect. Mulder gathered up the loose guns and then went looking for the light switches. While he was gone Scully was able to determine with her flashlight that the bullet had gone through the suspect's lower thigh, just above the knee and, by the amount of blood, missing any major veins or arteries. She knew better than to get too close to him when she was by herself, and winced when the bright overheads went on. Blinded for a moment she lifted the hand with the flashlight to shield her eyes, and when she looked back the suspect was gone. He was, however, leaving a thin but obvious blood trail and within moments Scully found him crawling between two of the machines. "Are you kidding me? How far do you think you'll get?"

"Scully, I got a signal on my cell outside the door, and backup and an ambulance are on the way," Mulder called, his voice coming closer before he appeared around the side of the machine and stopped. "Is this dumbass trying to escape?"

"Yes, and making his wound worse than it needs to be," she said in a scolding tone as she took her handcuffs from the holder on the back of her slacks. "Roll him over, Mulder, I'll cuff him and then check his wound—again."

By the time the DCPD, an ambulance, and more agents showed up Scully had the injured suspect stable, his wound bandaged with strips torn from one of the other suspects' t-shirts, hands cuffed in front of him. Mulder sat on one of the empty steel tables, swinging his legs and waving as the others came boiling through the door he'd left open for them. "Glad you decided to join us, guys," he called jovially. "Look what we found."

It was hours later before Mulder and Scully were released to go home from the DCPD station where they'd checked in the evidence and wrapped up most of the case all but for their final FBI reports. It turned out that they'd stumbled upon part of a larger heroin smuggling ring that the DCPD had been investigating for over two years and, luckily, their bust had nabbed two of the ringleaders. Now the rest of the department was out gathering up everyone else connected to the case that they'd been waiting to arrest, a bit ahead of schedule but not causing any real problems.

As they walked out to the Bureau pool car parked behind the station in bright early morning sunlight Mulder was rubbing his neck and rotating his head. The top two buttons of his white shirt were undone, and his tie—which he had not lost, to Scully's disappointment—flapped from one suit jacket pocket. "Much as I'd like to go home and just collapse, Scully, I'm starving. Want to stop and get a bite on the way back?"

"I need to stop at the Hoover and get my stuff before I go home," she said tiredly. "But yeah, food sounds good. Now that you mention it I'm pretty hungry too."

They got into the car and after Mulder started the engine, he paused and draped one arm over the steering wheel and then turned to his partner. "Scully... about earlier, what we said..."

She reached over and put her left hand on his bare wrist where the suit jacket and shirt beneath had pulled back. "Mulder, we said a lot of the things in the dark. Things that were, perhaps, better left unsaid. We can't take them back or forget them, but we can let them go for now. Table them, if you will, for another time. Hopefully one when we're not starving and exhausted from being up all night."

He studied her clear eyes in the bright daylight, which met his candidly and with no artifice. With his other hand he reached over and caressed hers lightly, both of them smiling at each other before they let go and fastened their seat belts. "All right, then, I'll take that rain check. For now, how about the diner over on E street? I know they're open for breakfast."

The car started. "That place is a dive, Mulder, the eggs float on a sea of grease. It's almost eight, so how about Mitchel's? It's a little further but—"

"I'm hungry, Scully, I don't want to wait—"

"Don't whine, Mulder, it's very unattractive in a grown man."

The car drove away, their voices fading into the bright sunlight as they left the darkness behind.

finis