Scully woke as the sun began shining through the window. She yawned and sat up, looking around her. The bed was empty beside her, but there was still an impression in the pillow where someone's head had been. After listening for a moment, she could hear someone in the kitchen trying to be quiet. She could smell coffee. As she sat up, her bedroom door opened a little and Monica appeared in the doorway.
"Oh, hey, you're awake…" She said and stepped into the room, holding two mugs in her hands. "Here, Dana, I brought you some coffee."
"Thank you…" Scully smiled softly as the drink was handed to her. She took a sip of the drink and watched as Monica pulled the chair from the desk over to the bed and sat down. She would have offered to let Monica sit next to her on the bed, but then she remembered the events from the night before and decided not to.
"Did you sleep okay?" Monica asked, obviously referring to the second half of the night, during which Scully actually did sleep.
"Yeah, I did… It was a little easier, knowing someone else was there." She replied.
"Well, I'll always be here for you, Dana… No matter what I'll always come running to you." Monica replied, with complete sincerity in her voice. Scully could feel herself blushing and took another sip of coffee to hide it.
"How did the case go?" She asked, turning the subject of the conversation away from herself.
"Oh, it turned out to not even be an X-File. Just your average serial killer."
"Did you catch the guy?"
"It turned out to be a woman, actually."
"Oh, wow. Not often you encounter that."
"Right…" Monica took a deep breath before sighing softly. "Dana, we really should talk about last night."
"Yes, I suppose you're right…" Scully agreed, looking over at her friend. "The nightmare was like a two-in-one sort of thing. Two horrible events, just replaying in my mind…"
"One of them was about William." Monica said. At Scully's surprised expression, she elaborated. "You were talking in your sleep. But what was the other part of it? From what you said in your sleep, it could've been just about anything."
"The other was about the abduction, when I was taken. I still don't remember a lot from it, but what I do remember still haunts me."
"It must've been awful… It was difficult to wake you up, more difficult than it has ever been."
"Part of me knew it was a dream… I could feel it. I could hear your voice, even. But I felt so stuck until… Your voice eventually got loud enough that it woke me." Scully told her. "It was your voice that brought me back to reality."
"Well, I'm glad it did. I couldn't stand the look of pain on your face. I hated what that nightmare was doing to you…" Monica replied, her dark eyes meeting Scully's blue ones.
A silence fell between them, neither of them speaking. Then, several moments later, Scully leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Monica's lips. "Thank you, Monica. For everything." She said softly. A soft smile appeared on Monica's lips as she leaned over to return the kiss.
"I… I love you, Dana." She said hesitantly, almost afraid of how Scully would respond to such a confession.
"I love you, too, Monica." She went to kiss her again, but was interrupted by cries coming from the other room. "I think William's up." She chuckled and stood up.
"You go take care of him, I'll make us all some breakfast." Monica smiled and headed for the kitchen. Everything would turn out alright. She had no doubt of that.
