Monica walked into the office after John and he threw down the file in his hand onto his desk in anger. They'd argued about the 'Mulder' situation all the way back from Quantico and although it had been frustrating and not the best form of communication – to be yelling at each other, Monica was glad that at least they were talking. John however didn't seem so happy, he was pissed and Monica got the distinct impression it was at her.
"John, John you can't just ignore me?"
"Really? Well that's funny because that's exactly what I was trying to do."
"Since when did us having different opinions on something mean that we tore each other apart?"
"It doesn't!"
"Then what's wrong with you?"
"I guess I just got used to working alone!"
"Well there are ways around that."
"Then maybe we should look into them!" Monica was hurt by what he'd said and John knew it, he could see it in her eyes and in her body, the way she arched away from him ever so slightly, to anyone else she was standing perfectly still, but to him, she was upset and he'd caused it. Monica took off her coat and hung it up before turning back to look at John.
"If you really don't want us to work together anymore, we have a problem."
"I do."
"But we can't work like this."
"I know, I just, I really think that this Mulder thing is important."
"And I think it's all a hoax that's gonna come back and bite us in the ass."
"But this could bring him home, what if he wants a pathway to get back? And he can't do it without us?"
"What if it's someone who wants to track him down? Or William? And we lead them there and we begin something that will cause more pain than we could imagine."
"Well I'm pretty sure I'm qualified in the area of losing someone you love."
"This isn't the same as Luke, John."
"No, Luke's dead. But I can make it ok for Scully to get William back, or for Mulder to talk to her, or protect his son, what's so wrong with that?" Monica looked at him for a second as she processed what he was saying. All she could see was a man who missed his son and wanted it to be ok for a father to do whatever it takes to protect him from harm. This wasn't about Mulder, or William, it was about Luke.
"You can't change what happened to Luke by bringing William back into Scully's life, of Mulder's."
"No, but I can make her pain go away, no one can do that for me."
"We all try to help John, you know that," he knew she was talking about the night they'd spent together but he wasn't prepared to talk about that. Not yet.
"Well it doesn't make a difference."
"Would you let it? Or do you just like to push people away?"
"I'm not gonna do this with you Monica."
"Do what?"
"This! I don't wanna talk about what happened with us."
"And if I wanna talk?"
"I don't care! Just leave it the hell alone!" his raised voice frightened Monica slightly and she didn't think she could sit here for a second longer. She picked up her coat and walked out of the office without glancing back and John watched her go, doing nothing to make her stay.
When Scully got home that night she found Frohicke sitting outside her apartment door with a half empty bottle of vodka beside him. She smiled a little as she approached him, despite the fact they weren't what you call conventional friends, she cared about him a lot and she knew that he cared for her too, and that he had a great deal of respect and care for Mulder. In her book that made him one of the good guys. She unlocked her door and he looked up at her, obviously trying to focus.
"Come on, I'll make you some coffee," she walked inside and he slowly followed and managed to find a chair at her kitchen table. "What happened to you?"
"I got into a fight with Langley and took a walk."
"And you ended up here?" he shrugged his shoulders, "what were you arguing about?"
"This whole thing at the bureau with Mulder. It just isn't right."
"No, I know. But I have to admit, I've been giving some thought into whether I should be there or not."
"Don't do it Dana, if Mulder needed to get to you, he would, you know that as well as I do."
"What if this is him getting to me?"
"It's a load of horse crap and I don't want any part of it," he looked at Scully and saw how much this was agonising her, he could see that she needed someone to tell her what the right thing was to do, he was happy to be that someone. "Scully, if you need to go, for I don't know, closure or something, then you should go. I guess if nothing else, only you know him well enough to know if it's really Mulder," Scully smiled at him and put his coffee down on the table. He sipped it gratefully and she kissed the top of his head.
"Thank you."
