Little Things That Always Feel Better When Shared
Prologue
Spring 2016 - Unremarkable House
Fox Mulder was sitting on his porch doing nothing but watching the sunset. Letting the last glorious rays wrap his body into its weakening brightness and trigger his brain to meditate on his life.
His inner soul was feeling so much better and his relationship with Scully was getting so much better that he didn't sense anymore the patches of darkness sneaking around the house when days were dying.
On the contrary, as light and heat were fading away, light-hearted and warm memories were popping in his mind like a joyful jack-in-the-box.
Memories about little things that always feel better when shared.
When shared with Scully.
Chapter 1 - Slides
This evening, the sky was amazingly beautiful. All the sunsets he had admired sitting on the porch of the unremarkable house were pleasurable, each having some peculiarity that would distinguish it from the others.
This evening, the sun, the clouds and the colors were composing an ephemeral chef-d'oeuvre that Mulder couldn't not immortalize. He then picked up his phone and took several photos of the natural painting that wouldn't last more than a few minutes.
When the gorgeous moment was gone, Mulder scrolled his screen, displaying for himself a mobile sunset slideshow.
Sliding his thumb. Photos sliding in front of his eyes. While the light and heat were fading away.
And then he was gone decades ago in the basement office, the day Special Agent Dana Scully had been sent to him to debunk his work in the X Files.
The day he had discovered that displaying a slideshow was much better when shared. Shared with Scully.
Mulder had always enjoyed slides. These tiny pieces made of plastic and photographic film whose details would be truly revealed when projected on a big white screen.
Even if he had had a few occasions to use slideshows when he was working in the Violent Crimes Unit or with Diana Fowley, he really dove into the routine of creating them when he had remained alone in the basement. For the cases he was investigating but also for no reason at all, just his own entertainment. It became a slight addiction, an allowed self-centered pleasure he could easily indulge in the office -not like the other one involving offensive tapes he had to inhibit during work hours.
Obviously, his slide shows helped him to grasp the cases he was on, to find new details and unexpected connections between facts, and to imprint his eidetic memory for good. He could even switch slides, reverse them, mix a few from different files to make him improve his hunches and deductions.
But he could also create a monster or an UFO slideshow just for the fun of it, and let the carrousel automatically display his own Ed Wood film whenever he needed a distraction.
One day his world had spinned over its axe and Special Agent Dana Scully had knocked at his door. At that time he was a professional slideshow editor, and he had of course prepared a special one in order to display his skills in front of his new partner.
Sure, this day he had intended to make the show. To show off with a slide show.
What he hadn't anticipated was the effect it would have on a viewer. A very special viewer. Special Agent Dana Scully.
What he hadn't anticipated was, once the lights were off, how the huge and crude slides on the big screen had triggered Scully's reaction, how she had come closer to scrutinize them, how the lights had played on her face, how she had challenged him with her scientific point of view upon the world, how her eyes had brightened, and how she had smiled at him.
This day, he had discovered that displaying a slideshow would ever feel better when shared. When shared with Scully.
Coming back to present time, Mulder was displaying a big smile, brought out by the sweet memories of that magical day. The sun was now completely out of sight, but was still remaining in its wondrous glory on the last photo he had scrolled through.
There was only one thing he was bound to do, and that was to send Scully this photo, and maybe also the other ones, so she could admire the beautiful sunset he had witnessed, so he could share with her his little mobile sunset slideshow.
Because little things always feel better when shared. When shared with Scully.