"Guess who?" that voice she would know anywhere even if all her other senses had failed her, as her sight did now that hands covered her eyes. "Mulder, where have you been? You left an hour ago to go get a cup of coffee." She tried to sound annoyed but had the sinking sensation that that she sounded more amused.
"Scully, we could disappear and no one would ever notice, that's why they stuck us down here. They want us to disappear. So what if I take an hour or two off. You should try it sometime." Scully continued her charade of indifference by continuing to type on her laptop and try to ignore her partner. Mulder had plopped down in his desk chair and propped his feat up on the desk its self. She knew this pattern of noises by heart, soon would come the cracking of sunflower seeds…
A loud thud awoke Agent Scully out of her dream state. Disoriented she looked up to find not Mulder, but Agent Doggett, standing in the doorway of the subterranean office of the x-files. Suddenly reality came back with a crash and Scully groaned. Mulder was gone. And the dream began to fade.
"Good evening Agent Scully. I'm sorry I woke you. I'll leave so you can go back to sleep, it's not like anyone would notice if we disappeared, why not take an hour or two off?" This statement hit a nerve in Scully, something to do with the half remembered dream she had just awaken from.
"No Agent Doggett, don't be silly, I have to get this report filed, I was just taking a short cat nap. Please come in." Doggett looked quickly around the office feeling that he was entering enemy territory as he always did when coming down here. It wasn't far from the truth he reflected as he took a seat remembering the glass of water that had hit him when he first met this red head woman who was for the time being his partner. The X-files office wasn't his environment, it was Scully's, and of course the absent Mulder's.
Scully typed in silence for a few moments, doing nothing to assuage his feeling of awkwardness. She didn't realize that the silence was making him uncomfortable. While her fingers moved adeptly over the keyboard her mind wandered, desperately trying to capture the evanescent wisps of the dream she had been having. It was a happy dream, she knew that. That could only mean one thing, Mulder.
Recently she had been having dreams of Mulder. When she could remember them they seemed to be fragments of previous events her mind pieced together. However many of those events never actually happened. As a medical doctor she knew that the subconscious created images it wanted to see in dreams, found old memories and dragged them back to the surface of the mind. Not that any one of these things couldn't have happened for they were all mundane, they just…never had happened.
"So…Agent Scully." Doggett said after the tension got to be too much for him but unable to find a coherent thought. She looked up from her typing startled, as if she had forgotten he was in the room. She had.
When he didn't continue she looked puzzled. "Is there something on your mind Agent Doggett?" she asked at last. He replied with a negative and the shake of a head. He looked up to see the clock read eight o'clock on a Friday night, time for him to check out. "I guess I'll be headed home. See you on Monday morning, Agent Scully." Doggett said hurriedly as he grabbed his jacket from a nearby file cabinet and made a hasty retreat.
"Good night Agent Doggett!" Scully called after his retreating back. A moment later the sound of the elevator's chime signaled his true departure. She sighed. Poor Agent Doggett, he really was trying to help her, she just never seemed to be able to do right by him. With Mulder there had never been the need to constantly talk, after so many years of working closely they could practically read each other's mind. Something Mulder had actually suggested a time or two.
Thinking of all of Mulder's crazy idea's made her smile just a little. God she missed him. Unconsciously her hand raised to touch the little golden cross she wore always at her neck. She would do anything to get him back, just as she knew he would do for her. Realizing that no more work was going to get done tonight when she was sitting here mourning the memory of Mulder, Scully shut down her computer and headed out of the office. The drive home was a blur, as was the microwave-dinner she cooked for herself.
"This is what my life has come to. It's a Friday night and what do I do? Sleep." She talked to herself as she prepared for bed. "I need to get a cat. Then at least I won't feel as stupid as I do now talking to the air." The moment her head touched the pillow she was out.
Crunch. Crack. Crunch. Sunflower seeds cracked between strong teeth
"Mulder, why are we here?" Scully asked him as she followed him into the office.
"What, the enjoyment of my company isn't enough of a reason?" he had that grin on his face that he always did when he was flirting with her.
"Mulder, it's Friday night. I could think of so many better things to be doing right now." She complained. She knew that she would have to spend at least some time on whatever stupid theory he had cooked up. To be completely honest she didn't really have anything better to do with her time. Spending time with Mulder seemed like as good of a day as any. "Really, why are we here?"
She flipped on the light and took a seat on the edge of the desk. The stupid poster was rolling up the wall again. It seemed that no matter how many time tacks were stuck in it they were ineffective. Suddenly the lights were flipped off again. Started she looked up and saw the silhouette of Mulder against the open door. The door closed plunging the room into pitch darkness.
It was amazing that he didn't fall, the office was that cluttered. She tried to keep it under control but the clutter seemed to multiply faster than she could clean. "Scully, I cant see! I'm afraid of the dark!" he cried in mock terror. She reached out and groped in the general direction of his voice.
She caught his outstretched hand and pulled gently. Mulder in his usual theatrics exaggerated the force of her pull and fell forward. He fell on her. One of his hands landed on her breast and stuck there. "Mulder! Mulder, isn't there some reason that we are actually here?" she asked while she reached up and removed his hand. "Because if not I think I'm going to go rent a movie or something."
He backed up and she could practically feel his eyes searching for her in the darkness. It was only then that she realized he was still holding her hand. She wasn't going to do anything about it if he wasn't. She was suddenly very glad that the darkness covered her blush.
"I wanted to tell you that I'll be alright. I don't want you to worry too much. There is nothing you can do for me right now. Just focus on running the x-files for me until I get back." He sounded sad, but she got the definite feeling that it was because of her, not of his own well-being. It just was too much and she started to cry. Mulder gathered her into his arms and held her. God how she missed that. Then of course Mulder ruined the moment by humming "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"
"Mulder." She groaned in protest of his singing ability but she smiled a tiny smile. Suddenly he stopped humming. His hand traveled up her arm, stopped to trace little patterns on random places. From her shoulder it moved to her jaw. He cradled her face and tilted it upwards, if it hadn't been pitch black in the office he would have been able to see the fear and excitement that intermingled in her eyes. Once more she was glad for the darkness because she didn't want him to stop.
His lips touched hers. It was barley more than whisper. He was asking for permission; she stood on tiptoe and pressed her self against him. Permission granted. The kiss deepened into an affirmation of passion that had been underlying their relationship for years. He broke off the kiss and wiped a tear from her eye. "Mulder. I.." this time it was a plea. She knew that he was leaving her then. He stepped out of her grasp and was lost in the darkness.