Comments, complaints and just plain talk to sheryl_martin@tvo.org
Summary: Scully has an unusual encounter...Rating: G, Humour, Story...
For Kelli of SPCDD - hope you're feeling better...
Itby Sheryl Martin
She woke up from what could only be called a wild hallucination; spiralling colours and images flashing through her mind's eyes. With a start she recognised the man sitting next to her bad, his hand possessively on the covers; not far from her own hand.
"How are you doing?" Mulder rubbed away the sleep in his eyes with his free hand.
"Hmm..." Scully smiled. "Good stuff, that. Remind me to get a take-out order when I check out."
He chuckled, reaching up to loosen the ever present tie from around his neck. "Definitely. But it seems that you'll be out in a day or so - they're just waiting for the final results to come back from the lab and then your mother'll pack you off for some home-grown TLC." His voice held the slightest note of longing. "She'll tuck you into your bed real soon."
Scully sighed, trying to shake the last vestiges of the medication. "Well, I'll lend her to you next time you get hurt." Putting her palms down on the bed, she tried to push herself further up the bed into a sitting position.
Mulder got to his feet, slipping his hands easily under her arms and lifting her up the mattress with a gentle shove. "Don't hurt yourself. That IV's been lucky so far." He gestured to the small needles attached to her right hand, running up to the pole attached to the bed frame.
"I'm not helpless, Mulder." She scoffed. "And I've seen you a helluva lot worse."
"Ah, but you never lift me up the bed." Before she could respond, he swung the hospital table around to face her; the slim platform covering her lap. "Food. Dinner, to be exact." Whipping off the plastic cover, he smiled devilishly.
"No. No more jello." Scully shook her head. "I thought I was back on solid food."
"They goofed. The menus went in too late; and the nurse said that this is it until breakfast." He looked at the orange cubes, a frown crossing his face. "Did you see that?"
"What?"
He waved a finger at the transparent cubes where they shimmered in the small white dish. "Your jello - I thought I saw it move..."
"Mulder..." Scully shot him the Look, tempered somewhat by the mild tranquillisers she knew were still coursing through her system. "Don't be silly."
"Look at it, Scully." He protested, still sitting by her side.
She blinked once, twice... tried to clear her mind and her vision at the same time. "Mulder..." The redhead repeated, trying to sound harsher.
Then she saw it.
The slightest tremor through the orange pieces. A fast look at the glass of water on the table to her left showed it wasn't an earthquake, however common those would or could be in Washington. She returned her stare to the shaking transparent cubes. Mulder cleared his throat, seated to her right.
"I'm seeing it too, you know. It's not the drugs."
Squinting, she focused in on the bowl; images of The Thing and The Blob intermixing back and forth, along with some nightmares she knew had to be related to their past cases.
But this was for real. The jello was definitely moving. Waving back and forth in a strange hypnotic rhythm.
Her logical mind clawed back through the foggy panic to remind her to try and figure this out before beating down on it with her hands, feet... the IV pole...
Then she saw it.
The slightest movement of Mulder's knee, just out of sight of the edge of the bed. With a dizziness born of embarrassment and of anger, she leaned to one side to see the tap-tap-tap of her partner's foot against the metal bottom of the hospital table. The table that held the tray that held the bowl that held the orange jello.
That quivered at the same rate as the rhythm of his foot.
Pursing her lips, she stared as his growing smile. And casually reached out with her free hand to take a slippery handful of the offending gelatin.
Whipping it at the laughing man almost sent her falling out of bed; but she managed to catch herself as he got to his feet; chuckling as the orange slime ran down his face and over his white shirt.
"Glad that you're feeling better, Scully. I'll call you tomorrow when you get home." Snatching his coat from the back of the chair, he headed for the door quickly; stopping to pull a piece of jello from his face and pop it into his mouth.
"Hmm... now if we only had a bathtub..."
The second handful hit the closed door; barely missing him.
Leaning back on the pillows, Scully mournfully surveyed the mess. Now she'd have to not only explain this to the nurses; but try and survive until morning without anything to eat. Maybe she could beg some juice or figure out some story...
The door opened, admitting a young nurse. She paused, surveying the orange jello now liberally sprayed over the door and the floor.
The petite woman smiled. "I had a bit of a dispute with my partner."
"I... see..." The nurse shook her head once in confusion. "I was wondering if you were ready for dinner - Mr. Mulder wanted us to wait until he had left."
"Dinner?"
"Yes." She leaned back into the hallway and then reappeared with another tray; which she put on the table in front of Scully after taking the now empty tray away. "He asked us to hold off until he had a chance to speak to you."
"The jello..." Scully wasn't sure if she was going to kill him slowly or just shoot him again.
"He asked us for a bit of a treat - said that orange jello was your favourite. Though we thought you might be a bit sick of it after all this time; he persuaded us that you wanted one more bowl." The young woman blushed. "Your partner can be very persuasive..."
"That he can be." Scully took off the plastic cover to stare at the roast beef, mashed potatoes and carrots. "If he weren't a FBI agent he'd probably be a used car salesman..." She sighed. "But when he's next in the hospital and I'm moving before him..." Her voice trailed off in anticipation.
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