SEARCH PART TWO
A few weeks later, after the Incident of the Undying Old Guy and the Stupid Agent, who Shot our Scully - Tithonus
Scully woke with a start, jarring her still aching chest. She'd heard her name, hadn't she? She strained to hear more, anxious with the habits of too many years a player among the X-Files and conspiracies of the world.
"I met her a while ago, on a search. What happened to her? Can she have visitors?" a hushed and somewhat anxious voice in the corridor asked.
She recognized the charge nurse's voice in the reply, that yes, Scully had been shot, and she could have visitors if she was awake. Before anything else could be said, a dog's big dark head poked around the door and woofed gently, a doggy smile on its face as it pulled towards the bed. Scully smiled for the first time in what felt like months - Chaser! Who could forget that dog? Or her owner.
"Scully? You awake?" Liliana's voice was soft and tentative as she followed her dog partway into Scully's dim room.
"Yeah, hello. What's she doing in here? Not that I'm not delighted to see you both..." and Scully was, as she reached painfully to stroke the Terveren's dark soft head, Chaser coming close so she wouldn't have to move much.
"We play therapy dog twice a week - Chase has more letters after her name than most full professors. How are you? I mean, it's obvious you're not... Do you mind if I ask what happened, or take my foot out of my mouth?" Liliana smiled at her a little anxiously - she saw severely injured or sick people every week, but rarely those she herself knew and liked.
"Hazard of the profession - young agent got trigger happy. A familiar young agent. I should have remembered what you said about him shooting one of the dogs." Scully sighed a little, looking into Chaser's sweet eyes, praying that Liliana would leave the topic of how she'd gotten shot and recovered. Especially of how she'd recovered - her life was more complicated monthly, and now...
Liliana sat next to her, staring at her in shock. "That idiot shot YOU now, too? I remember you saying in your e-mail that he was callow, but Jesus! Feebs'll have to get rid of him now. Oops - sorry, Scully."
"It's okay, he is pretty feeble. I think Mulder said he was so upset he's transferring to white collar crime - not much chance of shooting anyone there." Scully smirked a little, remembering the ever-so-slightly-smug expression on Skinner's face when he and Mulder had recounted this little tidbit. Dumb bugger deserved to get sent to Anchorage, let alone bumped out of murder-and-kidnap cases. She knew that her friends had given him good reason to leave, if he hadn't chosen to. Kersh would have to find a new watchdog now. She resettled herself more comfortably against the flat hospital pillow and watched Liliana as she fiddled with the purple flowers next to her bed. She frowned. Something was wrong there, too.
"Are you alright, Lil? Is your arm still bothering you, after that rock fall?" The other woman had mentioned recently via e-mail that she'd torn a few ligaments after sliding down a rock face in a cave, but she'd implied it wasn't serious. Scully hadn't seen her in person since right after they'd first met, but they'd begun to keep a comfortable e-mail correspondence, with occasional messages from Elspeth or Serenity as well.
Lil shrugged, saying "I've been going to PT regularly but it's still a little stiff. I've got two more months to go until I'm fully operational - so no searches either. Good thing my real job doesn't require two good arms, just one to write with!" Liliana worked as an editor for a big publishing firm and did some writing on the side, though Scully hadn't managed to read any of it - the other women was oddly shy about her own work. From some teasing remarks Serenity had made, she suspected that her new friend wrote torrid romance novels or something equally as embarrassing.
The two women went on talking together, catching up on the past weeks. Liliana kept a close eye on Scully, insisting on leaving to finish her rounds when she saw Scully growing tired. Scully herself settled back under the drab hospital bedcovers at Lil's insistence, feeling more alive than she had since the shooting. She giggled drowsily as the drugs took effect and Liliana tucked the light blue blanket over her gently, smoothing her hair out of her face. "No bed bugs to bite," she murmured as she dropped out, leaving Lil with an amused expression as she stood watching her - her new friend's powerful dignity and coherence apparently deserted her when she was woozy and sleepy.
Until Scully was discharged a week later, Liliana and Chaser made a point to come visit at the end of every therapy visit so they would have time to talk, lengthening the visits as Scully grew stronger. The nurses gave her special privileges - after all, she was listed as a volunteer. Serenity came once as well, bringing her other dog with her, tiny Guinevere - a little fluffy golden dog that was also certified as a therapy dog.
Scully found their visits far more restful than those of her agitated family - this was too close to what had happened to Melissa for them to resist pressing her to leave the FBI. The friendly charge nurse actually had to eject darling brother Bill on one occasion.
Mulder, too, tended to just stare at her, and to mutter anxious antagonisms against the fool of a young agent, and Kersh, and even Skinner. He had come too close to losing her too many times to be able to take it just as a chance or isolated event - it must be a sign of some larger evil. As this was sometimes true, his alarums were less than comforting.
On Discharge from the Hospital
"Okay, Scully, you all set?" Lil Ramos smiled at her pale but much, much healthier looking friend as she turned the old red Bronco's engine over. She'd had to seriously resist the urge to fuss over the smaller woman as she'd gotten settled into the passenger side, only managing to do so because she knew how much she'd hate to be fussed at herself.
"And extremely ready to leave. I still can't thank you enough for volunteering to drive me home - they wouldn't let me take a cab, though I'm perfectly all right. Grrr!" Scully mock-scowled momentarily, still irked by her colleagues' stubbornness, and unreasonably, by her family's and Mulder's inability to be there right when she needed them. Still, it was very nice to have a new and obviously reliable friend to ask...
"My pleasure. I've enjoyed talking to you in person rather than on the PC, despite the miserable circumstances."
"Definitely. I need to take you out to dinner after this, to thank you." Scully turned, smiled at her, awaiting her companion's answer hopefully.
"I accept, she said promptly. I never turn down real food, I'm a rotten cook. Although it's not necessary at all, you know. I wasn't kidding when I said it was my pleasure."
"Good. Oh, turn left here," Scully said, sitting up when she saw that they were approaching more of the ever-present bridge construction. The two women continued on the rest of the way to Scully's Georgetown apartment, finally managing to weave through the labyrinth of construction, traffic, and one way streets to park.
Liliana grabbed for Scully's bag, wincing and dropping it with a choked gasp as she realized she'd used the wrong arm. She reached to take it with the other arm, just as Scully herself picked it up.
"I saw that. Come on, you don't need to injure yourself to save me! Aren't we a pair, though?" Scully smiled at Liliana as they walked up to her apartment, holding her bag carefully with both hands to avoid pulling on any healing muscle.
"Veritable advertisements for Ace Bandage and company," agreed Lil with regret as she cradled her injured arm in defeat. Both of them were still wearing various bandages and wraps. She looked about with interest as they walked into Scully's small flat, noting with approval the neat but comfortable decor, the books and journals in a basket by a chair, and the plants in the window. She wondered briefly if Scully would like to adopt one of her baby spider plants when she potted them next week, then dismissed the thought to help her friend arrange things so she could get them.
"Thanks, Lil. I can't risk pulling too much on these muscles for a few days, but I have to stretch to reach those to begin with." Scully sighed, annoyed by her own weakness and, irrationally, by her failure to move her cooking pans and bathroom things to a lower shelf before she needed them there. She was going to owe Lil a really good dinner after this. She noted with concern that the other woman was only using one arm and winced guiltily. She'd been using both before, although only tentatively.
"No es nada. Hey, you offered me real food, anything's worth that." She walked over and hugged Scully briefly, leaving the FBI Agent too startled to flinch. "Here, why don't you sit down for a while while I go get the rest of the stuff out of the trunk. I can manage with one arm, as long as it's the right one."
"Okay, but you're going to let me take a look at that arm when you come back. I'm the useful doctor, remember?" Scully went to go dig through her medicine cabinet, sure she still had some of the stuff she kept around for the bruises that were the inevitable hazard of her profession. Horrible as it smelled, Tiger Balm could cure any muscle ache.
"Aggh, that stuff reeks! Are you sure it won't make my arm drop off?" Lil leaned back exaggeratedly as Scully began to smear the ointment onto her arm.
"Of course not, I use it all the time. There's nothing in it that could hurt you. You wiggle around worse than Mulder." Scully smoothed the silky cream gently into Lil's arm, working it into the sore muscles under the soft skin. 'Soft? Should I be noticing that?' She paused for a half-second, surprised at the thought, then continued.
Liliana had fallen silent, sitting cross-legged on the sofa next to Scully. She watched, amused by her friend's serious expression, and bemused by her own reaction to the light touch. 'For goodness' sakes, it hasn't been that long! She's straight, and doing you a favor. A medical favor, she's a doctor' Lil scolded herself internally, a little shocked at her own warm pleasure in the touch. The pain seemed to be melting away with the slight stingy heat of the ointment.
"I take back everything I said, that's much better." She sighed and leaned against the sofa, relaxing as her arm ceased to ache. Scully looked up and gave her a slightly smug half-smile - see? I knew what I was doing - and went back to her ministrations. Watching a lock of Scully's beautiful copper hair fall from behind her ear to rest against her cheek, she resolved to ignore any further physical attraction.
Seconds later, she heard herself asking, "So what's up with Mulder these days lately, anyway? I don't remember you saying anything about him the last time we talked, or in your last e-mail." She knew she was fishing, there, (what did she mean, "wiggle as much as Mulder"?) trying to find out if they were more than friends and former partners. Scully paused, still holding Lil's arm in her lap.
"I don't know. We talk, sometimes, but... He's too worried about me, and work, and just life in general -- 'for us, anyway' -- to be very communicative." She stared down at Lil's arm, absently noting the slight curl of her fingers, the bump that probably signified a past break, a few scattered freckles on the warm golden olive skin, then shook her head slightly, dismissing the depressing thought of Mulder without his X-Files. "Here you go. Let it sit for a while, and I'll re-wrap it for you."
"Thanks. Is something wrong at work, besides you getting stuck with Trigger Happy Jack there, and all of that? I don't mean to pry, but I mean it's obvious something's changed in the last year or so. I've heard the Bureau doesn't like close relationships between agents..." Lil trailed off, knowing that was heavy-handed, but really wanting to find out. 'Geez, why don't you just ask her, dummy? You're friends, after all. Yeah, but just getting there. Don't want to be like old Tia Rosario, into everything' she argued with herself."
Scully stared at her a second, then gave an abrupt chuckle. "Mulder and I are close, but not that kind of close. It would be too damn incestuous. I guess we never have talked about relationships, have we? Are you seeing anyone? Wren mentioned a tenant of yours..." she trailed off suggestively. 'Not in the mood to discuss the X-Files, let's have some gossip.'
"What, Michael?! She must have been joking! Definitely not each other's types, and he's been in New Zealand for months. I've been pretty much out of the game for the last few years. My last lover took off after eight years to go to, of all places, Antarctica. Said they wanted adventure and a real frontier." Lil scowled, remembering that last scene with Caroline, who had said a great many things about what she wanted to get away from, as well as what she wanted to get to. She herself had been on top of the list.
Scully noticed the impersonal pronoun, considered, discarded for later, and went on to relate her own (slight) recent dating history.
"Hmm. No wonder we didn't talk about our relationship histories." Lil said, watching as Scully carefully re-wrapped her arm.
"Definitely a depressing topic. Antarctica."
"Tattoos."
"Yeah. You'll have to show me yours sometime. I'm very curious, you know." Scully smirked, seeing Lil blush. 'Must be pretty awful, to make her blush like that. '
"Some other time, maybe. Now I've got to go, and let you get some rest. Next Saturday, for dinner?" Lil said, standing up hastily. 'No way am I letting her see that tattoo. Why did I ever listen to Caroline about that?' She backed away, picking up her jacket as Scully rose carefully and came to see her out.
"At seven o'clock. You bring dessert."
Lil glanced back, seeing Scully standing in the door, watching her leave. She really liked this woman, wanted her for a friend, maybe just wanted her. Funny, she hadn't seriously sought out a new friend since Caroline had taken off for Antarctica with that bearded bird counter of a Canadian scientist, let alone a new lover, male or female. It was already fairly clear that Scully was not a potential mate, despite her easy acceptance of Elspeth and Serenity's obvious relationship. Too Catholic, too Bureau, too, too straight.
Still, she seemed likely to be a good friend, and Lil was sure her attraction to her wouldn't last. Images of Caroline those last few years tended to intrude and choke any sexual feelings she had about anyone, let alone somebody who didn't want her. Unwelcome sexual intrusions dismissed satisfactorily, Lil turned the Bronco out towards I-95, ready to go home to Fredericksburg and feed Chaser, Moppet, and her two foster dogs, and maybe re-read Venus Envy for the umpteenth time. It was better than thinking about Scully, or Caroline, or the book she owed her editor next month.