TITLE: "How Far?"
AUTHOR: Dana Hale
EMAIL: K
SPOILERS: References to "Pilot" and "Chimera"
SUMMARY: Mulder reflects on his relationship with Scully while going out on a run with her at night. Set in Season 7 shortly after "Chimera."
DISCLAIMER: The X-Files television show and characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and the Fox Corporation.
Eleven o'clock on a Monday night. It's usually a time when normal people are winding down for the evening, preparing to succumb to the body's natural instinct to shut down for hopefully a good eight hours, to regenerate itself so that a new day can be faced. But not for Fox Mulder.
Sleep never comes naturally for Mulder. Especially when working on a grueling case like this one was becoming. His mind was always churning over new theories, or forming profiles of suspects, or thinking of old X-File cases that could be helpful to the current situation. Or thinking of his partner.
Turning on the television set which was getting horrible reception in yet another dive motel room, he found his thoughts turning again to Scully.
He didn't know when it had happened, but it did. He used to work alone and he liked it that way. His peers thought he was nuts, "spooky" even. No real friends, no life. Just himself and his quest to find his sister who was kidnapped by aliens. But when Scully came into his life, somewhere along the line he knew he never wanted to work alone again. Or never be alone again. Okay, so he still didn't have a life, but he had Scully. She could stand him, for some reason, and he finally found someone he could trust and rely on implicitly.
They were complete opposites of each other, but perfectly matched. She was the anchor to his boat, the brake pedal to his accelerator. He needed to be grounded or else he would have lost it completely, and she came at just the right time, forging a friendship that he knew would be eternal. A friendship? Was that all it was? He was recently asked if he had a significant other. Of course he did. But "not in the widely accepted definition of the term," was his reply.
Does she know how much she means to him? Because she means everything to him. Life without her is unthinkable. Does she feel the same? How could he ever begin to put into words or categorize or express whatever it is that they have together? It is simple yet complicated at the same time. Partners? Yes. Friends? Definitely. Significant Others? Sure. Is that it? No. Could there be more? Yes. How much more? And there's the defining question. He just didn't know the answer. Did he want to know? He didn't know that either. Simple yet complicated. Perhaps he wanted to know but was afraid to ask out of fear of losing her.
After flipping through all the channels on the TV, he knew he wasn't going to find anything worth keeping on even for background noise to keep him company. Boredom was setting in. Mulder shut off the set and turned to the file he had plopped on the bed earlier. Opening the file, he again looked at the violent photographs of the crime scene to see if he could come up with some fresh perspectives on the investigation.
A light tap was heard on his door. "Mulder, it's me, can I come in?" he heard Scully say.
Mulder dropped the file on the table and opened the door, happy to have a reprieve from the boredom he was experiencing. Saved again by Scully, he thought. She was dressed in navy sweatpants, a white T-shirt, and sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail.
"Scully, aren't you tired? Why are you up?"
"I thought I'd go for a run. Clear my head. Wanna join me?"
"Scully, you're asking me to go on a run with you? You always turn me down when I ask you!"
"Maybe I'm trying to make up for that," she said, somewhat mysteriously.
"Okay," Mulder smiled. "Give me a second to change."
Well this should be interesting, he thought. He dug through his suitcase, found his sweats and Knicks T-shirt, and then went into the bathroom to change.
A few minutes later, they headed out the door and into the brisk night air. It was great running weather, just enough cold to get the body energized but not too much to be a burden on the extremities.
Mulder let Scully set the pace and then he settled into rhythm next to her. He found that he had to shorten his stride so that he could stay with her, since his legs were longer. After a while, they were engrossed in the steady beat of their feet alternately hitting the pavement and the sounds of their breaths pushing in and out. It was then that Mulder realized he never had a "running partner" before. He was used to only hearing his own feet, his own breath. But after a few miles, he was really enjoying this run with her; having someone there to keep him going, matching pace and staying the course. They would slow down when either one needed to catch a breath, but they never stopped completely. And then there were times when they would push hard, giving all they had to get through the moment, the extra mile. Pounding out life together, side by side,on a long stretch of road going who knows where. That got him thinking again, about their friendship, or whatever it was; whatever it could be.
"How far do you want to go, Scully?" Mulder asked between puffs of breath.
"How far do you want to go, Mulder?" she asked him back, unaware of the double-meaning in his question. Or was she aware?
And Mulder just smiled.
AN: The "significant other" line came from the episode "Chimera." Guess what episode aired next? Yep, "all things." The one that hints at them having a more-than-just-friends sleepover. So how far did they go?