The next day
FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC
9:45 am
As the door to the basement office swung opened, Dana Scully quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and placed the framed photograph she'd been holding under a stack of files. "You do realize that we have five minutes to get up to Skinner's office so that we can explain how you racked up such a large budget on our last three cases."
"Me?" Mulder gawfed slipping a cup of coffee into her hands. "I believe it was all a joint effort my dear."
As she rose and gathered up some files, Mulder noticed how red and puffy her eyes looked. Stepping towards her he quietly asked, "Scully have you been crying?"
Forcing herself to smile Scully answered, "Just seasonal allergies. We're going to be late."
Frowning as she breezed past him out the door, Mulder wondered why her so-called 'seasonal allergies' had never manifested themselves on their recent trip to the red wood forrests of Washington state, but then Mulder recalled that the trip in question had presented an entirely different set of problems for the duo that would've made allergies look like a day in the park. Mulder sighed as he and Scully boarded the elevator. She looked tired, like she had just drifted off into one of those dazes that were becoming a habit and just forgot to sleep.
Mulder realized how ironic this was. Only a few months before, he had devised a million and one ways he could ditch his new partner before he'd even met her. Besides he had figured that his own 'Spooky' reputation and methods would get rid of her before he'd ever have to employ the aforementioned tactics. But Scully was different. She was confident, brave, intelligent, and passionate about the things she cared about while also being tolerant of crazy ideas and cryptic leads. She was everything Mulder wished he could be but knew that he would never be, and now he depended on her so much for both her intelligence and moral support, that he couldn't imagine going for any period of time without seeing her face.
Mulder only hoped that Scully didn't realize how blatantly he was staring at her on the slow elevator ride to Skinner's office. Thankfully, she had her eyes focused on the contents of one of the folders she was holding. As she frowned slighty, most likely at her partner's horrible handwriting on an expense form, Mulder noticed that she had a slight smudge of mascara on her cheek. Without a word, he reached up and gently wiped it away.
"You've got a little smudge," Mulder said softly praying that the elevator doors would stay shut for just another second. "But I got it."
"Oh," Scully replied blushing slighty at his touch, then looking questioning at him.
"You look fine," he answered reading her thoughts and still marveling at the softness of her skin. Before either could say anymore, the elevator doors opened depositing the pair in front of AD Skinner's office.
FBI headquarters, Washington, DC
6:30 pm
Dana Scully sighed unhappily as she stared at the clock in the small basement office. It was now an hour and a half later than she had intended to stay at work, the office was a mess.
"Mulder, I can't believe you think you're actually going to find anything in that pile of junk," she said to her partner who was crawling on the floor in a small storage room adjacent to their office.
"Scully, I can't believe you never noticed there was a door here," Mulder said digging through the stacks of books and files in the storage room.
"Well, you're such a master of disguise 007," Scully replied picking up the maps and newspaper clippings that had adorned the door and setting them on top of the file cabinet that had previously held it's residence in front of the door
"Oh wow," Mulder exclaimed happily. "I can't believe I found it!"
"You found your psych profile on Orvil Floyd?" Scully asked in disbelief, prehaps there was a method to Mulder's madness.
"No," Mulder answered popping his head out from the storage room. "But I did find an old class photo from Oxford. Wow is my hair still this bad?"
"Mulder, is there some sort of point here?" Scully snapped. "Because I'm really not seeing anything productive in your little treasure hunt except a huge mess that I'll end up taking care off."
"Well I just thought the profile of Floyd might help us gain more insight into this case before we go out on some wild goose chase," Mulder replied taken aback at Scully's sudden shift in moods.
"This from the head goose," Scully muttered to herself shaking her head as the she pulled the picture from under the stack of files where she'd earlier placed it. Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes again she managed to choke out, "Mulder I'm going home okay?"
"You sure you don't just want to take a break and order some Chinese," Mulder asked trying to wade his way out of the storage room through the stacks of files and mismatched papers.
"No Mulder," Scully said tears shining in her eyes as she grabbed her purse and jacket. "I'm going home."
With a slam of the door, Scully was gone, and Mulder was left alone to ponder what had just happened. Sinking in to the chair where his partner had been not moments ago, Mulder wished he could figure out why the normally calm and rational Scully had become an emotional rollercoaster. This had been the second time today he had seen her almost in tears, and this was much more disturbing than the morning had been. In mere moments she had gone from joking with him while making notes on files Skinner had presented them with to practically a nervous breakdown.
Mulder closed his eyes for a second, wishing that when he opened them Scully would walk though the door with two cups of coffee saying she was just kidding. However when he opened his eyes, he was greeted with no such sight. Instead Mulder found himself staring at the table, trying to find any clue as to what had his partner so unhinged. About to give up, the dim light in the room cast a soft glint on the picture laying where Scully had left it on top of the files. The picture was of a man in uniform holding a little girl. It took Mulder only a second to realize that the man was a slightly younger version of Scully's late father. He then studied the little girl; she was small with vibrant red hair and blue eyes. The little girl had one arm wrapped around the man's neck while the other was holding the stethescope from a child's play doctor's kit. Of course, Mulder realized that little girl had to be none other than his partner, Dana Scully.
Later that night
Mulder's apartment
11:21 pm
The television produced an eerie glow in Mulder's apartment as he flopped down on the couch. He had stayed at the office all evening looking for the file on the Floyd case and even longer making sure the office looked spotless. His plan was to arrive early for work the next morning with a mocha and a bagel waiting for Scully to cheer her up from whatever issues surrounding her father's death she was still working through, and just in case there was a line at the coffee stand, the immaculate office would hold her over for sure.
Mulder sighed as he flipped through the channels finding nothing on. Reaching for his laptop on the coffeetable, he decided to see if the Lone Gunman had sent any new conspiracy theories his way. Instead he was greeted with creditcard offers and advertisements for the newest model of the thighmaster. Rolling off the couch, he decided the only thing that could cure his boredom was a nice bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. He trudged over to the freezer grabbing a spoon out of the sink on his way. Who needs to dirty another bowl this late at night? Reaching into the freezer, Mulder was ready to savor every last bite in the container, but he was sorely disappointed to find only one bite of ice cream left.
"This is the last time I let those guys house sit while I'm out of town," Mulder growled remembering Frohike's insistances that he had gone to the store and replaced everything that he, Byers and Langly had eaten during their stay.
All Nite A&P
12:00 am
Fox Mulder was a man on a mission. He swiftly darted through the aisles of the market searching for only one thing: mint chocolate chip ice cream. Victory was in reach as Mulder arrived in the freezer aisle. Spotting his brand of choice, Mulder reached into the freezer case, oblivious to the woman browsing next to him. Like clockwork, Mulder and the woman both went for the same ice cream at once: the last container of mint chocolate chip. As Mulder sighed, ready to admit defeat in favor of chivalry, he was greeted by a familiar face.
"Mulder, do you ever sleep?" Scully asked quietly.
"Only when I'm not finding some way to bother you in the wee hours," Mulder retorted with a smile. To his joy, Scully cracked a small grin, it was one of the few times he'd seen her smile all week.
"You are just buying ice cream right Mulder?" Scully then asked warily. "Not trying to tell me we're going to Hickville, USA to investigate pyrotechnical alien liver eating ice worms?"
It was Mulder's turn to laugh, "No Scully, even Spooky Mulder just craves some mint chocolatae chip now and then." The he turned serious, "What about you Scully, don't you ever sleep?"
"What are you talking about Mulder," Scully asked not able to look directly at him.
For his part, Mulder decided to proceed with caution, saying, "Well I don't know Scully, it's just everytime I've seen you recently you look so tired and run-down. I don't know, I'm just not used to seeing you like this, that's all."
Scully sighed inwardly, why did Mulder have to be so damned caring all of a sudden? She enjoyed having him as a friend but it wasn't as if she could just go crying to him everytime something got to her. It didn't work that way; it couldn't ever work that way. Placing a hand on his arm and feigning a smile she said, "You've done a good job of keeping me on my toes the last couple of weeks Mulder. Give me a weekend to relax and everything will be fine."
As she walked away leaving him with the last container of mint chocolate chip, Mulder realized that the ice cream was a consolation prize; one he was all too disappointed to recieve. He wondered why it was so hard to get through to her, to make her see that he really did care. It seemed that in the last few weeks, everytime he reached out to her she pulled away with some insincere excuse about allergies or work. Granted that when they had first met and started working together, Mulder had been less than enthusiastic about Scully's presence in his life, but now he welcomed her skeptical logical and adored the dry wit she'd toss around with him on a good day. Hoping the clean office and coffee would bring Scully's smile quotient up to par in the morning, Mulder paid for his ice cream and headed home.
FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC
9:45 am
As the door to the basement office swung opened, Dana Scully quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and placed the framed photograph she'd been holding under a stack of files. "You do realize that we have five minutes to get up to Skinner's office so that we can explain how you racked up such a large budget on our last three cases."
"Me?" Mulder gawfed slipping a cup of coffee into her hands. "I believe it was all a joint effort my dear."
As she rose and gathered up some files, Mulder noticed how red and puffy her eyes looked. Stepping towards her he quietly asked, "Scully have you been crying?"
Forcing herself to smile Scully answered, "Just seasonal allergies. We're going to be late."
Frowning as she breezed past him out the door, Mulder wondered why her so-called 'seasonal allergies' had never manifested themselves on their recent trip to the red wood forrests of Washington state, but then Mulder recalled that the trip in question had presented an entirely different set of problems for the duo that would've made allergies look like a day in the park. Mulder sighed as he and Scully boarded the elevator. She looked tired, like she had just drifted off into one of those dazes that were becoming a habit and just forgot to sleep.
Mulder realized how ironic this was. Only a few months before, he had devised a million and one ways he could ditch his new partner before he'd even met her. Besides he had figured that his own 'Spooky' reputation and methods would get rid of her before he'd ever have to employ the aforementioned tactics. But Scully was different. She was confident, brave, intelligent, and passionate about the things she cared about while also being tolerant of crazy ideas and cryptic leads. She was everything Mulder wished he could be but knew that he would never be, and now he depended on her so much for both her intelligence and moral support, that he couldn't imagine going for any period of time without seeing her face.
Mulder only hoped that Scully didn't realize how blatantly he was staring at her on the slow elevator ride to Skinner's office. Thankfully, she had her eyes focused on the contents of one of the folders she was holding. As she frowned slighty, most likely at her partner's horrible handwriting on an expense form, Mulder noticed that she had a slight smudge of mascara on her cheek. Without a word, he reached up and gently wiped it away.
"You've got a little smudge," Mulder said softly praying that the elevator doors would stay shut for just another second. "But I got it."
"Oh," Scully replied blushing slighty at his touch, then looking questioning at him.
"You look fine," he answered reading her thoughts and still marveling at the softness of her skin. Before either could say anymore, the elevator doors opened depositing the pair in front of AD Skinner's office.
FBI headquarters, Washington, DC
6:30 pm
Dana Scully sighed unhappily as she stared at the clock in the small basement office. It was now an hour and a half later than she had intended to stay at work, the office was a mess.
"Mulder, I can't believe you think you're actually going to find anything in that pile of junk," she said to her partner who was crawling on the floor in a small storage room adjacent to their office.
"Scully, I can't believe you never noticed there was a door here," Mulder said digging through the stacks of books and files in the storage room.
"Well, you're such a master of disguise 007," Scully replied picking up the maps and newspaper clippings that had adorned the door and setting them on top of the file cabinet that had previously held it's residence in front of the door
"Oh wow," Mulder exclaimed happily. "I can't believe I found it!"
"You found your psych profile on Orvil Floyd?" Scully asked in disbelief, prehaps there was a method to Mulder's madness.
"No," Mulder answered popping his head out from the storage room. "But I did find an old class photo from Oxford. Wow is my hair still this bad?"
"Mulder, is there some sort of point here?" Scully snapped. "Because I'm really not seeing anything productive in your little treasure hunt except a huge mess that I'll end up taking care off."
"Well I just thought the profile of Floyd might help us gain more insight into this case before we go out on some wild goose chase," Mulder replied taken aback at Scully's sudden shift in moods.
"This from the head goose," Scully muttered to herself shaking her head as the she pulled the picture from under the stack of files where she'd earlier placed it. Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes again she managed to choke out, "Mulder I'm going home okay?"
"You sure you don't just want to take a break and order some Chinese," Mulder asked trying to wade his way out of the storage room through the stacks of files and mismatched papers.
"No Mulder," Scully said tears shining in her eyes as she grabbed her purse and jacket. "I'm going home."
With a slam of the door, Scully was gone, and Mulder was left alone to ponder what had just happened. Sinking in to the chair where his partner had been not moments ago, Mulder wished he could figure out why the normally calm and rational Scully had become an emotional rollercoaster. This had been the second time today he had seen her almost in tears, and this was much more disturbing than the morning had been. In mere moments she had gone from joking with him while making notes on files Skinner had presented them with to practically a nervous breakdown.
Mulder closed his eyes for a second, wishing that when he opened them Scully would walk though the door with two cups of coffee saying she was just kidding. However when he opened his eyes, he was greeted with no such sight. Instead Mulder found himself staring at the table, trying to find any clue as to what had his partner so unhinged. About to give up, the dim light in the room cast a soft glint on the picture laying where Scully had left it on top of the files. The picture was of a man in uniform holding a little girl. It took Mulder only a second to realize that the man was a slightly younger version of Scully's late father. He then studied the little girl; she was small with vibrant red hair and blue eyes. The little girl had one arm wrapped around the man's neck while the other was holding the stethescope from a child's play doctor's kit. Of course, Mulder realized that little girl had to be none other than his partner, Dana Scully.
Later that night
Mulder's apartment
11:21 pm
The television produced an eerie glow in Mulder's apartment as he flopped down on the couch. He had stayed at the office all evening looking for the file on the Floyd case and even longer making sure the office looked spotless. His plan was to arrive early for work the next morning with a mocha and a bagel waiting for Scully to cheer her up from whatever issues surrounding her father's death she was still working through, and just in case there was a line at the coffee stand, the immaculate office would hold her over for sure.
Mulder sighed as he flipped through the channels finding nothing on. Reaching for his laptop on the coffeetable, he decided to see if the Lone Gunman had sent any new conspiracy theories his way. Instead he was greeted with creditcard offers and advertisements for the newest model of the thighmaster. Rolling off the couch, he decided the only thing that could cure his boredom was a nice bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. He trudged over to the freezer grabbing a spoon out of the sink on his way. Who needs to dirty another bowl this late at night? Reaching into the freezer, Mulder was ready to savor every last bite in the container, but he was sorely disappointed to find only one bite of ice cream left.
"This is the last time I let those guys house sit while I'm out of town," Mulder growled remembering Frohike's insistances that he had gone to the store and replaced everything that he, Byers and Langly had eaten during their stay.
All Nite A&P
12:00 am
Fox Mulder was a man on a mission. He swiftly darted through the aisles of the market searching for only one thing: mint chocolate chip ice cream. Victory was in reach as Mulder arrived in the freezer aisle. Spotting his brand of choice, Mulder reached into the freezer case, oblivious to the woman browsing next to him. Like clockwork, Mulder and the woman both went for the same ice cream at once: the last container of mint chocolate chip. As Mulder sighed, ready to admit defeat in favor of chivalry, he was greeted by a familiar face.
"Mulder, do you ever sleep?" Scully asked quietly.
"Only when I'm not finding some way to bother you in the wee hours," Mulder retorted with a smile. To his joy, Scully cracked a small grin, it was one of the few times he'd seen her smile all week.
"You are just buying ice cream right Mulder?" Scully then asked warily. "Not trying to tell me we're going to Hickville, USA to investigate pyrotechnical alien liver eating ice worms?"
It was Mulder's turn to laugh, "No Scully, even Spooky Mulder just craves some mint chocolatae chip now and then." The he turned serious, "What about you Scully, don't you ever sleep?"
"What are you talking about Mulder," Scully asked not able to look directly at him.
For his part, Mulder decided to proceed with caution, saying, "Well I don't know Scully, it's just everytime I've seen you recently you look so tired and run-down. I don't know, I'm just not used to seeing you like this, that's all."
Scully sighed inwardly, why did Mulder have to be so damned caring all of a sudden? She enjoyed having him as a friend but it wasn't as if she could just go crying to him everytime something got to her. It didn't work that way; it couldn't ever work that way. Placing a hand on his arm and feigning a smile she said, "You've done a good job of keeping me on my toes the last couple of weeks Mulder. Give me a weekend to relax and everything will be fine."
As she walked away leaving him with the last container of mint chocolate chip, Mulder realized that the ice cream was a consolation prize; one he was all too disappointed to recieve. He wondered why it was so hard to get through to her, to make her see that he really did care. It seemed that in the last few weeks, everytime he reached out to her she pulled away with some insincere excuse about allergies or work. Granted that when they had first met and started working together, Mulder had been less than enthusiastic about Scully's presence in his life, but now he welcomed her skeptical logical and adored the dry wit she'd toss around with him on a good day. Hoping the clean office and coffee would bring Scully's smile quotient up to par in the morning, Mulder paid for his ice cream and headed home.