9
She couldn't go. "I'm not leaving. I can't leave you here, when you..." She paused, suddenly realizing. "No." She shook her head. "No, Scully. Tell me..." She rubbed her forehead roughly, pushing the hair from her face. "When you said it wasn't my fault. You took my case." She looked at her incredulously. "I wouldn't have missed work over bronchitis. I get it every year, I know what it does to me. It doesn't keep me in bed - it wouldn't. If I was on a case and I had work to do, it wouldn't stop me. If you know me at all, you know that."
Scully merely stared at her.
"What'd you do? You told me something to make me stay home, didn't you? You used my respect for you against me."
Scully's hand was moving the joystick, but Monica didn't stop. She was outraged. "What'd you do? Influence me to miss work so that you could go on the stakeout? If we were lovers, I assume you knew all about the case. What did you do?"
Scully met her eyes. 'You had fever, didn't need to work.'
She didn't acknowledge Scully's words. "You took the case from me! Why? Did you worry I'd be hurt?" Monica threw her hand out, pointing her finger at Scully in accusation, even though she was the one who felt guilty. "You're lying in this bed because of me! You're paralyzed because of me!"
Scully moved the cursor back over the letters again and added more. 'You're here with me. That's all that matters.'
The time it took Scully to spell out her words calmed Monica. "It's not all that matters." She looked down. "What matters is that you gave your life for mine."
'Worth it. You'd do same for me, even now. Even though you don't love me here.'
Monica shook her head. Biting her lip, forcing back feelings she couldn't voice.
Pain clouded Scully's expression. 'My mistake.'
"Yes." The words fell from her mouth and she had no control over them. "Yes, it is your mistake, if you think I don't love you."