Left Behind
Chapter 13

John walked out of A.D. Stricklyn's office just in time to see Monica slip into an empty office down the hall. She probably needed time to cool off. He probably should leave her alone. But the truth was, he couldn't leave her alone. At least not since she almost died in that car accident and he had nearly lost her forever. He could never leave her alone after that.

He felt horrible standing there staring at the door she had closed behind her. He had let her down. He knew this. But he also knew that he had told the truth. She had to respect that. Didn't she? Dana had said that she had held herself back because she was afraid to believe. Was he afraid to believe? He didn't think so. Show him the irrefutable proof and he'd believe.

John looked up and found himself standing right outside the door Monica had walked through a few seconds ago. He took a deep breath and released it. His hand grasped the silver knob and he opened the door. He walked in, seeing only her back, as he gently closed the door behind him.

"Monica," John began, but he never got farther than that. Monica had turned around at the sound of his voice. Her eyes were flashing with anger, betrayal, and disappointment. He just stood there staring at her like a person seeing a tornado for the first time. There was the wonder, but there was also the fear that accompanied the wonder. He had seen her angry before, hell he had even seen her occasionally angry at himself, but never this angry.

She had of course seen him angry before and he had risen his voice to her several times. But for the most part she had borne his rants patiently and without equal anger. Maybe deep down she had known that he had never been angry with her-with her ideas yes, but never with her. But she was angry with him now.

"Why didn't you just say it in there?" Monica demanded, her voice shaking full of hurt and betrayal. "Why did you just tell Stricklyn you think I'm as crazy as Spooky Mulder?"

John suddenly felt like he had been put on the defensive. He felt his temperature starting to rise, but he tried to keep calm. This will all blow over shortly, he thought. "Monica, all I did was tell him what I honestly thought. I told the truth. You of all people should respect that. You know I don't think you're crazy."

But Monica wasn't letting John hide behind what he considered the truth. "The truth? The truth is you walk around with blinders on, unable to see, unable to take a leap of faith! You could look truth right in the face and still not believe!"

That's when John lost it. Who was she to accuse him? "I'm not like you Monica! I don't believe in something just because someone says it's so!"

Had John been shouting? He realized he had because suddenly a deathly silence filled the space between them. They eyed each other, neither one in the mood to calm down much less apologize for the harsh words that had passed between them.

Finally it was Monica who spoke, her angry lying right beneath her calm voice. "Well if that's your opinion of me, I don't know why you bothered to bring me in on this case. It's obvious that you already have it all figure out."

With that Monica walked around him and out the door. He was alone. John walked over to the empty desk and slumped into the chair. He was also sorry for the things he had said, but he was too angry to apologize right now. Better to let Monica have some time to cool down. And himself too he thought. He'd apologize later when she came back to his home for the night. But then a fearful thought struck John. She was coming back to his house right?