The New Girl

            By Jinx

 Chapter Nine What You Don't Know Can Hurt Me

Author's Notes: I had to rewrite this to fill requests to see Mulder and Scully in bed together. I hope you appreciate that!

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            Rianna was the first to wake up the next morning. Scully and Mulder must have put her on the sofa bed. The thought unnerved her because they couldn't have done so without finding out how underweight she was. Pushing that thought from her brain, she rummaged through the cabinets and began making coffee. She looked at the clock, 5:30.

            She sat down at the table and chugged her coffee, wondering if she should go ahead and eat or get donuts on the way to work.

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            Scully and Mulder slept together in Scully's bed. During the night, they'd been snuggling together, entangling themselves. Mulder's head was buried in Scully's chest in a VERY un-partnerly way. She had wrapped her arms around his head, holding him there (in her sleep, of course.). Their legs were tangled together and both slept peacefully, finding comfort in each other's arms.  

            Scully's eyes fluttered open slightly and she realized what was happening. Oh, who cared? It felt so good to hold and be held by Mulder and feel his warm breaths against her chest. She closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

            Mulder woke up and realized he'd been nuzzling Scully's chest in his sleep. She didn't seem to mind though. He could feel her heart beating and feel her chest rise with ach breath. She smelled so good. God he loved her. Wait! He loved her? He thought for a second. Yeah, admittedly, he did love her. Too bad she didn't love him back. With a quiet sigh, he fell back asleep.

            Twenty seconds later, the alarm clock began its annoying bleeping routine, rudely awakening the sleepers.

            Scully reached over to shut it off, releasing Mulder's head from her chest. He grabbed a pillow and held it over his head.

            "Mulder… It's time to get up," she whispered, rubbing his back fondly.

            He mumbled something incoherently.

            She kept rubbing his back. "Come on, Mulder. We've got to get up."

            No answer.

            "Mulder?"

            He lifted the pillow off his head and turned to look at her. "Rubbing my back is a good way to get me to sleep, not to wake me up you know," he informed her.

            "Sorry," she said removing her hand, unsure of what to say.

            He grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to him and wrapped his arms around her. "I don't wanna leave here, I don't wanna greet the day and all of the horrible things that go along with that. Can't we just stay here, in your bed, together?"

            Scully's heart ached. She desperately wanted to but she couldn't. She inhaled deeply and then pulled away. She got out of bed and tugged on Mulder's hand. "Come on. We need to talk to Rianna."

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            Mulder and Scully shuffled into the kitchen groggily, heading straight for the coffee pot.

            "Good morning," Rianna greeted them levelly, taking in another mouthful of her heavily sweetened coffee.

            Scully and Mulder sat down at the table to talk to her.

            "Look, just cut to the chase. I know what you're going to ask," Rianna said. "I weigh 80 pounds. I'm not anorexic, bulimic, or have any kind of eating disorder or weight problem."

            "Then why do you weigh 80 pounds?" Mulder asked.

            "What I'm about to tell you cannot get out. My doctor and I are the only ones who know. No one at the FBI knows," Rianna told them and they knew she was serious. "Two years ago, I found out I had cancer, leukemia to be exact, acute myeloid leukemia. I underwent severe radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the first year. Then they tried a bone marrow transplant unsuccessfully. I had to do more chemo. The treatments were extremely hard on me and I couldn't eat. What I did eat, I threw up. Three months ago, I was declared cancer free. I weighed 60 pounds. I could hardly stand so the doctor put me on a special weight-gain diet. My stomach actually shrunk while I wasn't eating and I still couldn't eat much. I can eat almost normally but sometimes, I still throw up if I eat too much."

            Rianna monitored their reactions. Scully was probably running through her mental list of characteristics and symptoms of Rianna's disease. Mulder simply stared, dumbfounded at how she had undergone so many treatments without arousing suspicions at the Bureau.

            "I'm a con artist," Rianna said, reading his mind. "I pretended to be working on different case- which I was doing, just not when I said I was."     

            They looked at her in shock.

            "Please don't treat me differently. I'm not sick anymore. I just have to go to the doctor occasionally for testing," Rianna told them. She got up. "Unless either of you have more questions, I'm getting in the shower."

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            Rianna walked down Scully's street to the Dunkin' Donuts. "One chocolate glazed, one Boston crème and a large caramel nut coffee," she ordered. (Author's note: yummy! Sugary with lots of caffeine!)

            The older woman eyes her waif-like frame and added two more donuts to the bag. "On the house," she said.

            "Thanks," Rianna replied, taking the donuts and coffee. People had a tendency to give her free food when they saw her emaciated frame. She mixed cream and sugar into her coffee and sat down at a table. Quickly she devoured two of the donuts and drained her third cup of coffee for the morning. Evaluating her hunger, she ate half of the third donut and got up.

            "Honey, just between you and me, you need to eat more. You're too skinny," she said. She appraised Rianna's frame. "You're thinner than a sick. You'd be such a pretty girl if you'd just put a little meat on your bones."

            Rianna smiled. "I'm trying to. I'm not big on the anorexic look." Just to make the woman happy, she finished the last of her donuts. As she walked back to the apartment, she regretted it. All of her breakfast churned horribly. She knew it was only a matter of minutes before the donuts ended up on the sidewalk. With her hand held over her mouth, she raced into the building, up the stairs, and into Scully's apartment. 

            "Rianna? What's wrong?" Scully asked as she ran through the room. Mulder was in the shower but Rianna rushed in and was instantly sick in the toilet. She hung her head, elbows braced, and closed her eyes.

            "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Scully questioned.

            "I ate too much," Rianna replied. "The lady gave me two extra donuts. I ate them, big mistake."

            Mulder stepped out of the shower, a towel wrapped firmly around his waist when he smelled the sour stench of vomit. "Oh god," he said.

            Rianna flushed the toilet and slumped back. "This is why I hate it when people give me free food. I feel inclined to eat it." She leaned forward and threw up again, her body purging itself of food.

            She leaned back against the tub and groaned. Scully rubbed her shoulder while Mulder went to get her a glass of water. "No more donuts. Ever," Rianna said.  

            Scully laughed slightly and handed her the water.

            "I need to call my doctor," Rianna said. "He wants to know whenever this happens." She finished the rest of the water, got up, rinsed her mouth out, and got her cell phone.

            Mulder and Scully listened to what she was saying.

            "Yeah, I ate too many donuts," she said. "No, I'm okay now. I know I should be eating completely normally now. I'm fine! What? Why? I don't have one yet. I know, I know. I should still be going in for weekly testing and check ups but I am a doctor, you know and I've been feeling fine for the last three months. Even when I was getting tested, nothing ever showed up. Fine! Okay! I agreed already! Send the files to National Hospital. Now that I won't do. Okay! Fine, I'll take the day off. I really hate you sometimes, you know?" her voice softened. "Alright, I know, I know. You're just worried about me. I promise I'll find a regular physician." She smiled. "Okay. I love you too, David, you know that. I miss you too. I can hardly wait for you to get here. Really? When? That's great! I'll see you then. I love you, bye!"

            She turned her phone off. "He's my boyfriend, not just my doctor," she explained. "We met in med school, fell in love, and he moved to Dallas to be with me. Now he's moving here but it'll be at least a month before he actually moves."

            Scully nodded. "Did I hear you say something about taking today off?"

            Rianna smiled tightly and nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. I need to call the hospital and let them know I'm sending my files there so they can find a physician for me. Meanwhile, I am planning to clean the bedroom and go furniture shopping. There isn't even a bed in there."

            Scully smiled. "Alright. Sorry about that. I just never really use that bedroom."

            "Its okay," Rianna replied. "I got a voice mail message from Skinner. He wanted to meet with me. Will you tell him I had to take the day off to see my doctor?"

            "We'll do it but he's going to want to know why," Mulder said.

            "Don't worry about me," Rianna replied. "I'll deal with Skinner later."

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            After changing into jeans and a tee shirt and calling the hospital, Rianna began boxing all of the stuff Scully had collected in the room over the years. She'd have to look for storage while she was shopping. The walls were painted yellow, like the rest of the apartment. Yellow didn't work for her, she like green or blue or purple. The hardwood floor was about all she liked in the bare room.

            All of the boxes were gone, crammed into the closet and her own bags left out in the living room and the only piece of furniture she'd bought was her desk. It was time fore shopping.

            The phone rang suddenly and she picked it up without thinking. "Special Agent Rianna Heart," she answered. "Oh shit!" she remembered. It was Scully's apartment, not her own.

            "Oh, Agent Heart. This is Dr. Shobocker. I was trying to reach you," he said.

            "Why?" Rianna asked, her brow furrowing.

            "The tests conclusively show you are sisters but there was something unexpected," he told her. "Your blood had high levels of immature white blood cells, consistent with-."

            "Acute myeloid leukemia," Rianna finished. "I was diagnosed two years ago. I was in remission for three months but I guess its back."

            "I'm sorry," he apologized.

            "Don't be," Rianna answered. "I would have found out when I go in for testing tomorrow, I was a little suspicious anyway."

            "Well, I hope you feel better and get good treatment," he finished lamely. "Good-bye."

            Rianna hung up the phone and decided not to dwell on the fact that her cancer was back. Grabbing her purse, she went out the door. Her destination: the furniture warehouse.

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I'm not sure about how I feel about this chapter now. I'm not sure if I like it. What do you think?

Luv Y'all!

Jinx