A/N: Thanks for all the reviews so far, urging me to continue this! I finally got around to typing this up so yeah. I hope you like!
Scully honestly didn't' know what they were running from. For all she knew, it could be the evil offspring of the Easter bunny, one of Santa's reindeer that had gone rabid and escaped from the North Pole, a killer robot or maybe a highly contagious parasitic disease that the Government had set after them.
More likely, it was just a madman with a gun or just your average run-of-the-mill crook, but when you were working in the 'X files' department of the FBI, anything was possible. More so when your assigned partner was none other than Fox William Mulder.
As Scully followed her one-of-a-kind partner down the dull, wallpapered hallway, she found herself unable to not be frightened by the limitless possibilities of who or what was pursing them. It didn't matter a bit that most of their theories were a long way from scientific. Their lives could be – no were – in danger. She had every reason to be scared. They both did.
"Scully?" Mulder gently prompted her out of her reverie. "Ready to face the hell hole that is our room?" he asked, attempting to throw some humour into their bleak, unseemly situation. He jangled the key in front of her face, resulting in a sharp clacking noise as it hit the wooden keychain fixture that it was attached to.
"I guess so, Mulder," Scully replied, smiling softly at his erratic behaviour despite the danger they were in. She ran her tongue along her upper lip and stood by Mulder's side as he moved to insert the key into the rusty lock.
"It's a little stiff!" Mulder exclaimed after a moment. He pulled the key back to wipe his hands on his pants, before continuing to struggle with the lock and failing miserably.
"Here," Scully finally spoke up. "Give me a shot." She put her hand out to take the key and stared pointedly at Mulder.
"You want a shot?" Mulder repeated, his face blank and betraying no emotion. "Scully, I'm sure we can go down to the bar later. Now is not the time."
Scully glared at him, unsure whether he was being serious or not and not really caring either way. "Hand it over," she ordered icily.
"Alright, alright!" Mulder stood back from the door and passed the key to his partner. "Good luck."
Scully nodded a silent 'thanks' and then tried the lock herself. The key wouldn't go in properly when she first inserted it, so she flipped it the other way. It slid in and fit perfectly, despite the slight friction caused by the rusting surface. She let her tongue run over her lip once again and then turned the key. It grinded softly, emitted a high screech…and then it opened.
"You had the key in the wrong way, Mulder," Scully informed her baffled partner. She smiled at him, amused by the expression on his face.
"Sure. Fine. Whatever," Mulder retorted. Being beaten by his partner, especially when it came to something as simple as unlocking a door, was utterly humiliating. No, it was more than that. To say it was utterly humiliating was an understatement. He was definitely not going to let it happen again any time soon. He wouldn't!
Mulder pushed the door open and recklessly stomped in.
A/N: Yes, as some of you have probably noticed this chapter sortof uses the same rusty old key idea as my other fic, "Locked In". I actually wrote this before that story, so I guess you could say it's not exactly copying so much. I mean, seriously. In this one, they actually get the door open! So it's not copying... Whatever. I guess it doesn't matter all that much.
Anyways, enough rambling for now! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you have any suggestions for what happens next, let me know! And reviews are shiny! P
