0720
Mulder's Tent
Mulder woke up to find Scully gone. He stumbled out of his sleeping bag and then out of the tent calling her name.
Scully walked out from behind the tent. "I'm right here, Mulder," she said, walking over to him.
"Where were you?" he asked nervously.
"Going to the bathroom," she answered. "Mulder, you have to stop being so overprotective. I'm ok."
"I know but you know how much I worry," he replied, going back into the tent with Scully following.
"I know," she replied. "What are we going to be doing today?"
"You're going to be doing the autopsies, right?" Mulder asked.
Scully pursed her lips. "Yes," she said discontentedly. "The room and equipment are unsatisfactory, but I can do it anyway. But I knew that. I meant, what are you doing today?"
"I'll probably watch you and then I might get a new camera and go back out to the desert."
Scully raised an eyebrow. "No more interviews?"
Mulder groaned. "No. I'm not going to do any more interviews here. The stories are all different and constantly changing."
"Poor Mulder," Scully said.
"It's inconclusive evidence!" Mulder protested. "Evidence that changes and warps itself so it's no longer evidence! You know how annoying that is."
"Of course I do," Scully replied. "I'm going to go down to do the autopsies. Are you coming?"
"Yeah, but I need to change. I'll meet you by the car," he said and shooed Scully out of the tent.
Friday, August 4
0853
The Makeshift Autopsy Room
Scully put down her scalpel and pulled her mask down around her neck.
"Well?" Mulder asked.
"Well these people have been squeezed to death, most likely by some sort of snake. If you look here," she pointed at a pair of small red marks, "and here," another pair, this one a little lower, "these are snake bites. I've found traces of an unidentified poison in their veins which is most likely from the snakes."
"But what about that woman, Anders, who cut part of the snake off and then it slithered away?" Delore asked.
"I don't know what kind of snake these are, but it's remotely possible that, like worms, they can live after part of them has been cut off," Scully explained.
"Remotely?" Mulder echoed.
"Well that's what confuses me," Scully replied. "That, and the fact that I don't recognize the venom. It seems almost as if they have DNA from snakes, worms and a type of frog."
"Frog?" Mulder and Delore said at the same time.
Scully flushed slightly but went on to say, "It looks like a cross between rattlesnake venom and poison arrow frog venom."
"What-"
Scully shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I found. I want to send a sample of the poison to the Phoenix field office to get it properly analyzed."
"Right away," Delore said, took the vial that Scully handed him and walked out.
Mulder moved closer to Scully. "That's impossible and you know it. There is absolutely no way a poison arrow frog could get up here."
"It's what I found," Scully repeated. "Keep in mind that I'm not an expert on snake or frog poison. We'll know much more after we get it analyzed. Besides," she added, "I thought that you were always open to extreme possibilities."
Friday, August 3
2200
Mulder's TentMulder rolled over again. He couldn't fall asleep. As silly as it seemed, he was too exited about what the results of the analysis might show. He was like a child on Christmas. Scully's fast asleep, Mulder noted with some envy. She had fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow. He wasn't sure what was so exhausting, but he figured it must have something to do with her trying not to fall apart again.
Scully's eyes suddenly opened. "Why are you staring at me?"
Mulder blinked. "What?" he asked stupidly.
"You've been staring at me. Why?"
"You've been awake?" Jesus, he thought to himself. Why can't I get a coherent sentence out?
"I haven't been able to sleep," she confessed.
"Oh."
"So why were you staring at me?" she repeated.
"I was envying your ability to fall asleep and worrying about you."
"Well I wasn't asleep and you really don't need to worry about me."
"No matter how many times you tell me that, I'm still going to worry."
Scully moved her sleeping bag closer to Mulder's. "I know. And I feel really bad about that. You keep me up at night, Mulder. I keep on trying to think of ways to make you happy and to make you relax."
Mulder looked at Scully in surprise. "Really? You always look like you sleep so well."
"Make-up," Scully replied. "I don't know when the last time I got a decent night's sleep was."
"I'm sorry." Mulder's eyes were wide with surprise and slight amazement. "Is that what you were just doing?"
Scully smiled. "No. I was thinking about myself. I was wallowing in self-pity."
Mulder laughed and then grew serious. "Last night when I asked you what you wanted, you said that you wanted a normal life. What did you mean by that? A life without me? A life without the X-Files?"
"Oh, no!" Scully exclaimed. "I can't imagine a life without you! I just meant that sometimes I want a life with children, where I have a normal nine to six hour job and a husband. Sometimes I wish I had a typical suburbia life. But you know what?"
"What?" Mulder asked, afraid of the answer.
She smiled. "Most of the time I think - no, I know - that I'm the luckiest woman alive."
"What?"
Scully laughed and took Mulder's hand. "I have an interesting job that lets me travel all around the country and I get to see and learn new things with every case. I have a lot of friends and my best friend I see everyday. My family lives close by and I get along very well with them."
After a few moments of silence, Mulder asked, "What about me?"
Scully blinked. "I said that I see you everyday."
It was Mulder's turn to blink in surprise. "I'm your best friend?"
Scully laughed and gave his hand a squeeze. "Yes, Mulder. You're my best friend and I can't live without you."
"You can't?"
"No."
Say something, dammit! Mulder thought to himself. "You're my best friend, too," he said lamely. "And I know I can't live without you."
"I know."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"Scully?"
"Mmm?"
"Would you mind sharing a sleeping bag?" Mulder asked tentatively. "Just as friends, I mean. I'm not propositioning you or anything; I just want to have you in my arms. Safe."
Scully bit her lip. "Mulder, I'd love to. I'd really love to. But I don't think I can."
"Can you try?" Mulder asked. He knew that he was pushing it, but right now he really needed to have Scully safe in his arms. It seemed like nothing else could ever possibly be more important to hold her. "Please? I swear to god I won't hurt you. I just need you. Now."
Scully let go of his hand and brushed the tears off his cheek.
Shit, he thought to himself. Not again. Why do I always have to start crying?
"Ok," she said softly, getting out of her sleeping bag. "It's ok, Mulder. I'm coming." She slid into his sleeping bag, slightly amazed that there was enough room for both of them. Scully spooned herself into Mulder, wrapping one of his arms around her, fighting the urge to bolt. She knew that she needed this just as much as Mulder did.
"Are you sure this is ok?" Mulder asked, thinking much more rationally now that Scully was close.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said and she sounded so sure of herself that he let it drop.
Mulder fell asleep almost instantly and Scully soon after him.