Chapter Seven - I Hope Cheese Is Okay?
Scully swung the door open and glanced at Mulder with a look a pure delight before she caught herself and slipped back into her professional mode.
Mulder had spotted the look and it made him glad that he had made attention to the passing reference Melissa had made about him and Scully.
"Hey Scully" he said walking past her and putting the pizza down on the table. "Sorry to popping in on you like this but I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to talk about everything. I thought you may forgive me if I brought you food and drink."
Despite herself Scully smiled at him. "I will admit that the pizza smells much better than the frozen dinner I was planning on eating. Have a seat and I will get the plates and glasses."
They ate in relaxed silence as if they had been sharing meals together for years. Scully felt so at ease that it wasn't until she had cleared the table and headed for the living room to gather up her case notes that she noticed that Mulder was looking at her a bit oddly.
She knew she dressed pretty shabbily but hadn't really given much thought.
"What?"
Mulder looked questioningly at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I am just surprised to see you wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt."
Scully relaxed a bit and laughed. "Melissa gave this to me. She spent six months following the band around and for Christmas that year we all got t- shirts"
Scully picked her up legal pad and joined Mulder on the couch.
"I hope your interviews were more productive than mine. Everyone had a wonderful time at the party. I interviewed six people and the only person I found who didn't like everything about Paige is a person who has been dead five years."
"You mean Andrea?"
Scully looked a bit puzzled when she nodded in reply and then remembered that Angela and Mulder had been involved romantically on and off for quite a while. It would seem logical that he would know about the sister.
Scully wondered though, why she felt the smallest pang of jealousy at the thought.
"Apparently she never liked Paige when she was alive so Angela assumes that she doesn't think much about her now that she is dead."
"Makes sense"
"Makes sense??? The woman is dead. Has been dead for five years now. She is no longer capable of having any feelings let alone acting on them."
Mulder was going to argue the point but decided against it but still filed the name of Andrea away for future reference.
They spent the next hour discussing their separate interviews and coming up with very little except that everyone they had talked to so far had been accounted for during Paige's time of death and that none of them had any clue about who would want to hurt her.
It was getting close to eleven when Mulder put his pad down and stretched. With business being completed for the evening he noticed that Scully began to look a bit uncomfortable.
"Scully" he said topping off her glass of wine. "Don't you want to talk about it?"
"About what?" she said knowing exactly what he meant.
"The other night?"
"What about it?"
Mulder sighed in frustration and turned Scully to face him. She seemed a bit startled at his action and her eyes showed the smallest hint of desire before she was able to submerge it.
"Scully, I don't get you at all. You have so much going for you - why do you try so hard to keep people away from you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you shutting me out?"
She looked at him blankly and in frustration he got up and started pacing around the room. "Let's see, over the past few days you and I have met at a party where we had a wonderful time and looked like we were on the verge of having an even better time when the tequila you consumed caught up to you."
Scully blushed a bit at this which made Mulder stop and smile at her. "Not that I hold that against you. I was actually quite impressed with how much booze you were able to tolerate. You're a petite thing but you definitely held your own."
She glared at him but he only smiled a bit at her and continued "Granted it was a tad embarrassing to meet up again in our mutual boss's office getting assigned to our first case together. But do you act embarrassed? Do you joke with me about it? Do you acknowledge me in any way, shape or form? No. You act like it never happened."
He walked over to the couch and sat down next to her taking her hands into his. "Then we both see for the first time a mutual acquaintance of ours dead as a doornail. Well, at least this time you did react but you still kept me at arm's length. I wanted to be there for you but you made it perfectly clear that you needed none of my help nor were you willing to offer me any in return."
He dropped her hands and looked down at the floor. "No, not you. You have too much to prove so you went off to cut apart your friend without a word."
He raised his head and looked directly into her eyes. "Are you trying to tell me that you felt nothing through all of that? For if you are, I don't think that I believe you for you seem to have feelings enough when I propose an outrageous theory to you. Then you have no trouble letting your feelings be known."
"If you can yell at me about my stupid theories about spirits committing murder, why can't you share with me some of your other feelings."
His voice grew soft and he used two fingers to pick up her chin so she looked directly at him. "I know you have them Dana. I know they are there. All I am asking is for you to share them with me."
A small tear welled up in Scully's eye and he wiped it away as it trailed down her cheek. "I am not saying I am a prize to be with but I am willing to give it a shot if you are. But this time you will have to come to me. I will wait for you." He bent over and kissed her ever so softly on the lips "but I won't wait forever."
He got up then and left her apartment without saying a word.
Scully sat frozen on the couch with her fingers touching her lips. She didn't know what to think or what to do. Finally she picked up the phone and called her sister.
Melissa took one listen to the sound of her sister's voice and immediately got off the phone and into her car. She arrived at her sister's apartment, let herself in and found Scully frantically weeping on the couch.
"There, there Dana" she said immediately taking Scully into her arms. "Has everything from the past couple of days finally caught up with you?"
Scully pulled her head off Melissa's shoulder and looked at her "You sound just like Mulder."
"Fox?"
Scully wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. Realizing she was past hope, she gave up on the idea. "He was h-h-here."
"Really?" Melissa perked up considerably. "Did you two finally."
"Why does everyone think that he and I are going to be together" she yelled jumping off the couch and imitating Mulder's earlier pacing of the room. "First Angela, then him and now you."
Melissa smiled indulgently at her sister. "Well, I suppose we could all be wrong..but I doubt it?"
"I barely know the man" Scully said and she threw herself down on the chair across from Melissa "And everyone expects me to open myself up to him."
She looked pleadingly at her sister. "Do you think I am closed off? Do you think I hold people at a distance? Do you think I don't have feelings?"
Melissa smiled again. It was obvious to her, if not to her sister, that Mulder had made a major chink in the armor she surrounded herself with. "Dana, I know you feel deeply about many things. But I also know that you are often not comfortable sharing those feelings with others."
Melissa got up and sat down at her sister's feet. "Dana, darling, some people experience the world through their emotions while others experience it with their minds. Neither way is better than the other as long as you are open to other points of view."
She took Scully's hand. "Like it or not, you and Fox have been through quite an experience and from the way things are looking will go through quite a bit more. I doubt there are many people who would empathize with your current situation the way he can. I don't know him very well, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of man who would hold what you felt about something against you."
"You may be right. But I work with the man. I have worked too hard to get where I am to show any weaknesses."
"Everyone has weaknesses Dana. Even Fox Mulder"
Scully smiled at her sister and stroked her hair. After a moment Melissa raised her head "Dana, would you mind if I asked you something rather personal."
"Even if I minded, you would still ask so go ahead."
"If you and Fox even end up together - you'll tell me, right?"
"Probably. You usually get me talk everything - even if I don't want to."
"Good. I want to find out if all of Angela's stories were true."
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End of chapter seven. any thoughts suggestions?
Scully swung the door open and glanced at Mulder with a look a pure delight before she caught herself and slipped back into her professional mode.
Mulder had spotted the look and it made him glad that he had made attention to the passing reference Melissa had made about him and Scully.
"Hey Scully" he said walking past her and putting the pizza down on the table. "Sorry to popping in on you like this but I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to talk about everything. I thought you may forgive me if I brought you food and drink."
Despite herself Scully smiled at him. "I will admit that the pizza smells much better than the frozen dinner I was planning on eating. Have a seat and I will get the plates and glasses."
They ate in relaxed silence as if they had been sharing meals together for years. Scully felt so at ease that it wasn't until she had cleared the table and headed for the living room to gather up her case notes that she noticed that Mulder was looking at her a bit oddly.
She knew she dressed pretty shabbily but hadn't really given much thought.
"What?"
Mulder looked questioningly at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I am just surprised to see you wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt."
Scully relaxed a bit and laughed. "Melissa gave this to me. She spent six months following the band around and for Christmas that year we all got t- shirts"
Scully picked her up legal pad and joined Mulder on the couch.
"I hope your interviews were more productive than mine. Everyone had a wonderful time at the party. I interviewed six people and the only person I found who didn't like everything about Paige is a person who has been dead five years."
"You mean Andrea?"
Scully looked a bit puzzled when she nodded in reply and then remembered that Angela and Mulder had been involved romantically on and off for quite a while. It would seem logical that he would know about the sister.
Scully wondered though, why she felt the smallest pang of jealousy at the thought.
"Apparently she never liked Paige when she was alive so Angela assumes that she doesn't think much about her now that she is dead."
"Makes sense"
"Makes sense??? The woman is dead. Has been dead for five years now. She is no longer capable of having any feelings let alone acting on them."
Mulder was going to argue the point but decided against it but still filed the name of Andrea away for future reference.
They spent the next hour discussing their separate interviews and coming up with very little except that everyone they had talked to so far had been accounted for during Paige's time of death and that none of them had any clue about who would want to hurt her.
It was getting close to eleven when Mulder put his pad down and stretched. With business being completed for the evening he noticed that Scully began to look a bit uncomfortable.
"Scully" he said topping off her glass of wine. "Don't you want to talk about it?"
"About what?" she said knowing exactly what he meant.
"The other night?"
"What about it?"
Mulder sighed in frustration and turned Scully to face him. She seemed a bit startled at his action and her eyes showed the smallest hint of desire before she was able to submerge it.
"Scully, I don't get you at all. You have so much going for you - why do you try so hard to keep people away from you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you shutting me out?"
She looked at him blankly and in frustration he got up and started pacing around the room. "Let's see, over the past few days you and I have met at a party where we had a wonderful time and looked like we were on the verge of having an even better time when the tequila you consumed caught up to you."
Scully blushed a bit at this which made Mulder stop and smile at her. "Not that I hold that against you. I was actually quite impressed with how much booze you were able to tolerate. You're a petite thing but you definitely held your own."
She glared at him but he only smiled a bit at her and continued "Granted it was a tad embarrassing to meet up again in our mutual boss's office getting assigned to our first case together. But do you act embarrassed? Do you joke with me about it? Do you acknowledge me in any way, shape or form? No. You act like it never happened."
He walked over to the couch and sat down next to her taking her hands into his. "Then we both see for the first time a mutual acquaintance of ours dead as a doornail. Well, at least this time you did react but you still kept me at arm's length. I wanted to be there for you but you made it perfectly clear that you needed none of my help nor were you willing to offer me any in return."
He dropped her hands and looked down at the floor. "No, not you. You have too much to prove so you went off to cut apart your friend without a word."
He raised his head and looked directly into her eyes. "Are you trying to tell me that you felt nothing through all of that? For if you are, I don't think that I believe you for you seem to have feelings enough when I propose an outrageous theory to you. Then you have no trouble letting your feelings be known."
"If you can yell at me about my stupid theories about spirits committing murder, why can't you share with me some of your other feelings."
His voice grew soft and he used two fingers to pick up her chin so she looked directly at him. "I know you have them Dana. I know they are there. All I am asking is for you to share them with me."
A small tear welled up in Scully's eye and he wiped it away as it trailed down her cheek. "I am not saying I am a prize to be with but I am willing to give it a shot if you are. But this time you will have to come to me. I will wait for you." He bent over and kissed her ever so softly on the lips "but I won't wait forever."
He got up then and left her apartment without saying a word.
Scully sat frozen on the couch with her fingers touching her lips. She didn't know what to think or what to do. Finally she picked up the phone and called her sister.
Melissa took one listen to the sound of her sister's voice and immediately got off the phone and into her car. She arrived at her sister's apartment, let herself in and found Scully frantically weeping on the couch.
"There, there Dana" she said immediately taking Scully into her arms. "Has everything from the past couple of days finally caught up with you?"
Scully pulled her head off Melissa's shoulder and looked at her "You sound just like Mulder."
"Fox?"
Scully wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. Realizing she was past hope, she gave up on the idea. "He was h-h-here."
"Really?" Melissa perked up considerably. "Did you two finally."
"Why does everyone think that he and I are going to be together" she yelled jumping off the couch and imitating Mulder's earlier pacing of the room. "First Angela, then him and now you."
Melissa smiled indulgently at her sister. "Well, I suppose we could all be wrong..but I doubt it?"
"I barely know the man" Scully said and she threw herself down on the chair across from Melissa "And everyone expects me to open myself up to him."
She looked pleadingly at her sister. "Do you think I am closed off? Do you think I hold people at a distance? Do you think I don't have feelings?"
Melissa smiled again. It was obvious to her, if not to her sister, that Mulder had made a major chink in the armor she surrounded herself with. "Dana, I know you feel deeply about many things. But I also know that you are often not comfortable sharing those feelings with others."
Melissa got up and sat down at her sister's feet. "Dana, darling, some people experience the world through their emotions while others experience it with their minds. Neither way is better than the other as long as you are open to other points of view."
She took Scully's hand. "Like it or not, you and Fox have been through quite an experience and from the way things are looking will go through quite a bit more. I doubt there are many people who would empathize with your current situation the way he can. I don't know him very well, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of man who would hold what you felt about something against you."
"You may be right. But I work with the man. I have worked too hard to get where I am to show any weaknesses."
"Everyone has weaknesses Dana. Even Fox Mulder"
Scully smiled at her sister and stroked her hair. After a moment Melissa raised her head "Dana, would you mind if I asked you something rather personal."
"Even if I minded, you would still ask so go ahead."
"If you and Fox even end up together - you'll tell me, right?"
"Probably. You usually get me talk everything - even if I don't want to."
"Good. I want to find out if all of Angela's stories were true."
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End of chapter seven. any thoughts suggestions?