She felt his fingers gently tapping at her side as he desperately tried to convince everyone in the room that he wasn't completely crazy. For a brief second she thought about backing away, but the sight of him laying there so distressed stung at her heart. She was the only one who ever listened to his crazy stories and she couldn't deny him now in his helpless state. She tried to calm him down as he insisted that she had saved the world. All she could do was shake her head in agreement. He had clearly been through enough. He was hooked up to several IV's and was sporting quite a shiner beneath his left eye.
"In your dreams. Mulder, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to think to yourself there's no place like home." She slowly backed away from the bed and headed for the exit. She made it about four steps before he was calling her back. Being the good partner that she was, she kindly obliged. She held tightly to the side of the bed and gave him her patented 'this better be good' look. His eyes met hers quickly in an intimate stare.
"I love you." The sincerity in his eyes was almost as heartbreaking as it was drug induced. He collapsed back on to his pillow as she left him. The left side of his face stung upon contact, but even in pain he couldn't help but smile.
It was a long lonely night at the hospital. Mulder thrashed back and forth in his stiff hospital gown. Every time he closed his eyes he saw images of Skinner and Cigarette Smoking Man in their Nazi attire, and Spenders face after he had knocked him out. He tried hard to focus on anything other then the way Scully had looked in that red dress. The material and color complimented her creamy skin and strawberry hair perfectly. He still felt her warm flesh on his fingers and swore the feeling of her lips on his was burnt into his memory. The imaginary feeling of her body pressed against his was the only comfort he could find in the tiny, unfriendly hospital room. He tried desperately to put it all aside and just sleep, but the little things like the smell of her hair haunted him for the rest of the night.
Scully did not have nearly as much trouble falling asleep. She fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. The days events had left her completely drained. Mulder had gotten himself into some pretty scary situation in the past, but this one had topped them all. Her hopes of sleeping in the next morning were crushed when her house phone rang obnoxiously in her ear. She jumped quickly from her bed clearly startled by the noise. She squinted for a few seconds until her eyes recognized the number on her caller ID.
"Mulder you better have a damn good reason for calling me at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning." Her voice was still sleepy, but her disapproval of the early wake up call still came through loud and clear.
"And a good morning to you too Scully, I'm feeling much better thank you for asking." She couldn't help but smile at his early morning sarcasm.
"I'm sorry, Mulder. You caught me a little off guard that's all. What are the doctors saying?" She was generally concerned about his condition, but under no circumstances was she a morning person.
"Well, I'm a free man Scully. There is just one thing keeping me here." He bit his lip, almost afraid to continue.
"You're the only person I know with a dependable car. I guess the Lone Gunman company van is in the shop, and let's face it, I have no other friends." It was sad but true.
"I'll be there in half an hour Mulder. I'll meet you at the entrance." She was already pulling a pair of blue jeans from her closet.
"I won't keep you waiting g woman." With that he hung up the phone and began gathering his belongings.
Much to his surprise it was not a typical rainy Washington morning. The sun had just begun to burn through the clouds and the bright light was warm against his face. Overnight the slight bruising under his black eye had turned into much more. His left eye was now slightly swollen shut, and different shades of purple decorated the skin around his eye. He was pleasantly surprised when he found a few stray sunflower seeds in his jacket pocket. Scully had brought him the dry clothes when she had visited him the night before. He always kept a bag with some extra clothes at the office, it was perfect for situations just like this one. Exactly one half hour after he had hung up with Scully, she pulled up to the entrance of the hospital.
"You goin my way?" He asked as she got out of the car and walked towards him.
"It's you're lucky day, Mulder." She replied as she opened the trunk. Their hands briefly met as she grabbed the bag from him. Upon contact, Mulder immediately thought of everything that had happened the previous night. Her hands felt the same as they had when they were running down the halls of the Queen Anne together.
"I'll need my hand back, Mulder." She finally replied, breaking the awkward silence. The unintended contact had even made her cheeks turn a little rosier then they usually were. It wasn't until that moment that she remembered what Mulder had said to her the night before.
"You wouldn't want to stop and grab some breakfast, would you Scully? That hospital food was a little less than appetizing. Plus, I owe you for the ride, and for saving me from imminent drowning." He tried desperately to change the topic of conversation.
"Yeah, I guess I could go for some breakfast. As long as it's on you." She immediately regretted the way she phrased the last part of her statement. It seemed almost impossible to keep the conversation from getting awkward on this particular morning.
"The lady gets what she wants." Mulder replied as he finally hopped into the passenger seat of her car.
The ride to the diner was very quiet, the only noise coming from the radio stations that Mulder flipped through. He tried to make small talk about how radio stations never played music anymore, but to no avail. He had forgotten how quiet their morning rides were, as Scully wasn't exactly chipper before she had her morning tea. The parking lot was nearly empty as they pulled into the quaint little diner. It was exactly half way between there apartments which made it convenient for both of them. They usually went there after particularly stressful cases. As soon as the car was in park Mulder was out of his seat and opening the door for his partner.
"Now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen this place in the light of day." Scully said, her eyes squinted at the sunlight.
"You aren't ashamed to be seen with me in the light of day, are you Scully?" Mulder replied with a smile as he shut the car door behind her.
"After everything we have been through in the past 6 years, I have no shame." Her sense of sarcasm was perfect.
Within minutes the two starving agents had their food. Mulder's plate was stacked high with breakfast sausage and pancakes, while Scully's choice was a bit more modest consisting of turkey bacon and scrambled egg whites. She watched in awe as Mulder practically inhaled everything on his plate.
"I guess time travel really affects your appetite." She said, holding her mug of tea with both hands.
" My appetite was the last thing on my mind last night. At the risk of sounding utterly insane, I still believe I traveled back in time to 1939. You should have seen it Scully, everyone was there." He spoke with a full mouth, making his story even more ridiculous.
"Did the wicked witch of the west make an appearance?" Scully couldn't help but grin, she loved busting his chops.
"Laugh all you want, Scully. Now I'm not going to tell you what you were like circa 1939." Mulder teased back.
"You threw a good punch, that's for damn sure." He added as he pointed at his shiner, he knew that would get her attention.
"Mulder, what reason would you give me to punch you in the face?" She was interested now. Mulder hesitated answering her question. He had already confessed his love to her the night before, and feared that if he told her about their kiss she might feel even more awkward around him.
"I don't think I could ever punch you Mulder. Besides, I'm a lefty." She now sat wit her head in her hands, waiting patiently for him to finish the story.
"I guess you could say I offended you." He said as he cleared the rest of his plate with a tiny piece of pancake.
"Quit dancing around the question, Mulder. What could you have possibly done that would have enraged me to the point of physical assault?" Her tone was almost angry now. She knew there was more to the story and was determined to get it out of him.
"I wish you could have seen what you looked like, Scully. I just remember being so happy to see your face, and you had absolutely no idea who I was.." He stopped for a second and took a sip of his orange juice.
"I was afraid I would never see you again, so I grabbed you and kissed you like I've never kissed anybody before in my life. I guess I didn't want to jump into the ocean with any regrets." His eyes were painfully honest and did not break from hers.
"Well, I'm sure if there was a chance I would never see you again I might kiss you as well. The thought of never seeing you again is rather heartbreaking." The idea of Mulder being absent from her life had never crossed her mind before. She would be nothing without him, stuck at Quantico with a job she probably would have hated.
"Scully, if you were to ever kiss me I think I might die of shock. But if I survived the shock, I definitely would not punch you across the face." The tension between them had finally lifted, and both of them had slight smiles across there lips.
"Mulder, I love you too." She grabbed his hand from across the table and held it tight. He smiled in relief, he had finally gotten the response he wanted.