Chapter Ten

Scully opened her eyes slowly.

She couldn't work out where she was. She saw an old fashioned ceiling lamp swinging from the ceiling above her head and she saw an old painting on the wall which was not familiar. She blinked and stared at it for a moment, it was a portrait of a sea side town.

She frowned in confusion and tried to remember. She slowly edged her way upright in the bed and turned to look to the left but as she did the pain in her neck caught her by surprise as her wound stretched with the movement. Raising her hand to her wound in a knee jerk reaction she winced and closed her eyes again to try and block the pain out. The warmth of the morning sun shine burned onto her face as the sun emerged from the clouds and through the window. She swallowed and realised that she felt slightly light headed. She tasted a strange taste in her mouth, like alcohol.

No, wine. Red wine.

'Hey sleepy head. How you feeling?'

Suddenly it all came back to her. She remembered the incident at the morgue, how she had been controlled and how he had made her cut her throat. She remembered Mulder running towards her, calling out her name. She had been upset and Mulder had been there to comfort her. She had let her emotions pour out of her as she sobbed in his arms. She closed her eyes again, remembering the comforting feeling of him holding her, protecting her.

She felt a familiar warmth on her right hand as Mulder took his hand in hers.

'Scully?' He said gently, and she blinked a few times as the sun filled her vision. She saw him, looking down at her from the side of the bed. His face was full of concern. 'Are you ok?'

'Sure.' She swallowed again, her mouth was dry. Had they been drinking last night? She couldn't remember anything after the paramedics checking her. She frowned again and her heart raced as she wondered how she had gotten into this bed. 'I erm… have you got some water?' She rasped weakly. Mulder reached over to the bedside table and handed her a glass.

'Here.' He said and she took it from him, blushing. He stared at her. She felt his gaze on her and desperately tried to remember what had happened last night. She looked down briefly and realised she was in her night dress.

'Thanks.' She breathed, after taking a large gulp. She tried not to meet his gaze. She wasn't sure how to act. 'How did I get in this bed?' She asked cautiously. Mulder frowned in confusion.

'What's that supposed to mean?' He asked.

'I erm..' She was blushing again furiously. 'I can't remember last night.'

'Oh.' Mulder said, lowering his head. She raised her eyes to him and saw that he was smirking.

'Mulder!' She exclaimed in frustration. 'This is not funny..'

'I know.. I'm sorry.' He said, trying not to laugh. Scully frowned at him and his smile dropped. He looked at her with concern.

'Scully, you were upset yesterday. You went into total meltdown.' He said gently. Scully nodded and felt anger rise inside her.

'I know that Mulder…' She said defensively.

'I'm not judging you Scully. You know me, I would never do that. I was happy to be there for you. I erm..' He started with difficulty. '..I enjoyed comforting you.'

There was a silence between them. Scully swallowed again, the wine taste still in her mouth. Her cheeks were now flaming red. She felt her heart race as she searched his face. He was so honest, so understanding.

'Say something Scully, please.' He begged, searching her eyes. Scully couldn't look at him.

'Mulder did we….' She started, uneasily and broke off as she glanced over at the desk across the motel room and saw the empty bottle of red wine, and two plastic motel cups. One was tipped over on its side. Mulder finally let out a coy laugh.

'Scully seriously, as much as I would love to tease you about this until the end of time – NO.. we did not do anything last night.' He said with a soft smile. Scully couldn't help but notice a hint of disappointment within it. She was surprised as she didn't feel relieved. She just felt the same as before, embarrassed, awkward, and still in love with him.

'Oh.' She said in a low voice. Mulder searched her face.

'We had a bottle of wine - you wanted it!' He said as she looked up at him with the word wine. 'You were really upset, you wanted to let loose. We had a good talk - you cried a lot, I hugged a lot..' Mulder said and Scully couldn't help but smile.

'Thank you Mulder.' She said gently. Mulder squeezed her hand.

'No problem.' He said softly, full of sincerity. Scully felt her heart skip a beat as his eyes bore into hers once again. She took a deep breath as his gaze finally moved to her neck. 'So, how are you today?'

'Oh erm.. I'm ok.' She said sheepishly. She looked down at his arm and suddenly felt panicked as she remembered. 'MULDER!' She exclaimed. Mulder looked at her with concern and confusion at her change of tone. She sat up straight. 'Your arm! Have you taken your meds?' She pressed.

'Don't worry Scully, I have taken my meds. My arm is fine.'

'But.. the wine, you're not supposed to drink with the medication..'

'Oh erm…' He started with another small smirk. 'Busted. You drank it all. I only had a few sips.'

Scully nearly gasped in surprise. No wonder she couldn't remember. She felt her cheeks flare again as Mulder looked at her with a smile.

'For God's sake Mulder.' She said under her breath and pushed the covers off her. She was frustrated now and just wanted to get back to work. Mulder was forced back from her as she jumped out of the bed.

'Scully, come on. Stop.' He asked, following her steps trying to calm her down. 'You haven't done anything wrong. You were grieving, I was here - we are old friends…'

'It's not that.' She barked, interrupting him and grabbing her blouse and skirt from the seat by the desk.

'Then what?' He asked incredulously. Scully closed her eyes and tried to count to ten.

She wanted to scream it out.

'It's because I still love you..'

Or;

'It's because, if we carry on like this I am not going to be able to control myself and we are going to be back together and this is too soon for me,'

Or something along the lines of;

'I can't bear another broken heart.'

But she couldn't.

She suddenly noticed that her bra was flung over on the other side of the room. She opened her mouth in shock. Mulder stood before her and just shrugged.

'It wasn't me!' He exclaimed playfully. Scully felt her cheeks flare once more and she snatched it up. With her clothes bundled in her arms, she made her way to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Mulder sighed heavily as she sat back in his own Motel room. He tapped his left foot in frustration. Last night had been heavenly. He had loved every second of it. He closed his eyes as he remembered her snuggled into his chest, laying on the motel floor together. She had been quite hazy from the wine and he had tried to get her not to drink as he knew that she would regret it in the morning, but she had wanted to let her hair down. And who was he to stop her?

But it had been good for her to let it all out – he just hoped that she was better now – that she had grieved enough. He just wanted to close this case and go home, so that they could be safe. He had racked his brains in the night trying to figure out how to catch this asshole. He knew that he never wanted to leave Scully's side again – it was too dangerous. They needed to stay together and look out for one another. He felt the familiar guilt fill him again as he remembered seeing her with the scalpel to her throat. He was so angry with himself for being so stubborn about their fight. He should have stayed with her.

'Mulder?'

She made her way through the door way. He looked up at her. She looked her usual smart self.

She was effortlessly beautiful and impeccably smart. He admired her for a moment – her shiny heeled feet, her perfect legs, her grey checked skirt just resting above the knee – just teasing him slightly - her blouse – blush pink today, he noticed - and her crisp grey suit jacket. Her hair fell in loose curls at the side of her face. He wondered if she did that herself every morning or if it hung like that naturally. He had never seen it like that before – she had always had it straight or when they had first met, she had had it longer with it curled underneath. He knew that it didn't dry completely straight, if she just left it to dry it had a slight kink in it, but it didn't dry in those perfect loose curls. He had a memory of her washing her hair, in the shower – with him behind her, running the water down her back and to her..

No, he thought. She must style it nowadays like that.

He had really wanted to kiss her last night, and he could have done – easily. But it wouldn't have been right. The restraint had nearly killed him.

'Mulder?' She asked again, the expression on her face was stern. He swallowed and pushed his thoughts away quickly.

'Yeah.. erm.. sorry.' He said, standing up and grabbing his suit jacket from the chair.

'I had a phone call.' She said, her eyes wide. Mulder was back in the room.

'From whom?'

'A young woman called Sandra Delaney. She wants to meet with us. She says she knows who killed Tessie.'

Mulder was at the door in two seconds flat.

Sorry I haven't written for a while - been on vacation :)