The New Girl

            By Jinx

Chapter Five

Obsessed

            It was late and everyone was asleep. Everyone, that is, except Rianna. Her desk lamp glowed dimly across the screens of both her desktop and laptop computers. The ringer on her cell phone and other phone were both on low and ringing frequently. She checked her digital alarm clock on her bedside table. 2:30 AM. Rianna turned away and began clicking away again. A yawn escaped her mouth. A small bottle of pills rested on the desk, stimulants. She opened the bottle and popped a pill into her mouth and swallowed.

            Her fingers returned to the keyboard and she continued researching frantically.

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            Scully woke up needing to go to the bathroom. Too bad. It had interrupted a very good dream. She didn't remember the dream though, just that it was good. She glanced at the clock, almost 2:30 AM.

            She sat up and swung her feet around to the cold, hard floor. The bathroom door was open just a crack and she went right in, closing it behind her. The door to Rianna's room was open so she went to close it.

            She noticed a light glowing dimly from the room. Assuming that Rianna had just fallen asleep watching T.V, she went to close the door. As she peered around it, what she saw surprised her.

            Rianna sat at her desk wearing peach silk pajama pants, a slinky white camisole, fluffy white slippers, and thick reading glasses. Her unruly curls were trapped in two thick braids. Scully watched as she picked up a bottle of pills and took one of them. Then Rianna continued working on her computer obsessively.

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            It was late, almost 2:30 AM. Mulder turned off the T.V. in his room. He wasn't really tired but he went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth to get ready for bed.

            As he climbed into bed, he noticed a light shining from Rianna's partially open door across the hall.

            "Guess I'm no the only one up late," he muttered. "I better go tell her to get some sleep." He padded softly across the hall.

            Instead of seeing Rianna in bed watching T.V, she was at her desk, computers on and phones ringing softly. She reached for the bottle of pills by her arm and took one. An instant later, her hands were back on the keyboard, researching.

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            "What are you doing?" Scully and Mulder asked at the same time.

            Rianna jumped off her seat. As both of them stepped into the room, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh it's just you guys. You scared me. What are you doing up anyway?"

            "I'd like to ask you the same question," Mulder told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

            "I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd do some research," Rianna explained.

            Scully grabbed the pills off the desk. "Stimulants." She looked at Rianna accusingly and held up the pills. "I assume you have an excuse for this too?"

            "I know they're bad," Rianna admitted. "I just wanted to get some stuff done."

            "So you'll hurt yourself to learn more about your parents?" Scully asked.

            "It's just this once," she protested.

            "I don't care if it's once or a million times," Mulder said. "You're still hurting yourself."

            "What do you care? It's my body!" Rianna exclaimed, starting to get defensive.

            "We're your partners," Scully reminded her. "Maybe we've only known each other for a few days but we still care about your well being."

            "It's none of your business!" she argued.

            "We aren't getting anywhere, Scully. It's time for desperate measures," Mulder said. "We already have your pills. If you turn everything off and leave your doors wide open, we'll throw these away and never mention this incident again. Refuse and we give these to your parents."

            "That's blackmail," Rianna told him darkly.

            "True," Mulder replied. "But I am serious."

            Rianna picked up her phone and turned it off. Then she turned off the other phone and saved everything on her computers and shut them down. Begrudgingly, she turned her desk lamp off. "I hate you guys," she muttered darkly.

            "No you don't," Mulder said. "You just hate what we're doing to you." He turned to Scully. "Make sure she goes to the bathroom and brushes her teeth. I'll turn down her bed."

            Scully pulled Rianna into the bathroom and waited while she peed and brushed her teeth, even taking the time to floss.

            "You guys are like an overprotective brother and sister," Rianna told Scully.

            Scully smiled slightly. "Part of my job."

            Rianna went back into her room and climbed into bed.

            "Call us if you need anything," Mulder said.

            "Okay big brother," Rianna joked. "Goodnight."

            Mulder flicked off the lights. "Make sure she goes to sleep," he whispered in Scully's ear.

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Ouch! I tore a chunk of flesh out of my foot and can hardly walk. Lucky for you, that means I have more of an excuse to sit at the computer and type all day. Too bad I need to earn some money tomorrow for this summer or else I would be tempted to write up the rest of the story. Oh well. I'll manage a couple chapters, especially because I won't be here for the better part of the weekend.

Luv Y'all!

~*JInx