Chapter 7:
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"What are you two doing standing in the open doorway like that,
arguing?" Scully scolded. Skinner didn't mention if she smelled of
sex too.I was suddenly furious. This was their time. They should be back
in bed awakening slowly in each other's arms, whispering all sorts
of secrets in each other's ears, not standing out here with
morning breath and bed head and their boss reaming their asses.But Scully seemed as calm and controlled as though she were making
a report in Skinner's office rather than standing there with no
underwear on and Just-Been-Fucked hair swirling around her head.
"How are you today, sir?"Skinner sounded lost. "You two, what the fuck are you doing?"
Nobody said anything. Scully, who could not lie but perhaps did
not like her answer, stayed silent. Mulder, who could lie but
probably had decided to start a new program as of today, stayed
quiet. Skinner must have been thinking.He spoke. "I think you're not happy unless you're fighting against
the odds. You had it all just a couple of days ago. You had your
assignment back. You had my support. You had a group of agents to
help you. But you have too much self-hatred to just sit back and
enjoy it, don't you?"I realized Skinner was addressing Mulder. "So you gotta create a
public scene that causes you to be persecuted by a whole new group
of jackals. Just when I might be able to clean that up, you gotta
be sloppy and use an unrestricted phone line for phone calls that
is now being broadcast around the world and there's no way you can
get out of that." I could hear them both gasp. "And now this! I
can't ignore this and I gotta find a way to deal with it. And
you're right back home again. You're pursued, persecuted and one
second from being fired."I knew Skinner was speaking partly out of pain but it didn't make
it any better. Mulder mumbled, "I'm sorry sir..."Scully broke in. "Well, I'm not. I am sorry if we've hurt you as a
friend. What has happened between Mulder and I is personal and now
was the time it was meant to happen, however inconvenient it may
be to you or the Bureau. Now, if you will excuse us sir, I really
need a shower and some more rest."How could she get away with that? Acting like the Queen of England
when she should be hiding under the sofa?Skinner was walking to the door. "Think about what I said Mulder,"
he warned him as he pulled the door shut behind him.I watched him wander into the bathroom already filled with steam
from the shower. Scully was slipping the pajama top off and
testing the water. He took a moment to admire her body, again. Her
perfect little soft ass had a large bruise on the right cheek. He
reached out and touched it lightly. "Did I do that?" he asked.She craned her head around to see. "No, after I was shot I landed
on my butt." She traced her fingers up his long arm. "Don't listen
to Skinner.""Maybe he has a point?"
"Maybe you want to find a way out?"
His eyes shot up to meet her solemn blue depths. She covered his
heart with her hand as though to hold it in his chest. I knew what
he was thinking. He was afraid. Afraid of the future, afraid of
the unknown, afraid of losing her...She nodded slowly and although he hadn't spoken out loud, she'd
heard him anyway. "We've faced a lot of scary things together,
I've been so scared sometimes I thought I would die of fright. But
I think now, now we can help each other face that fear, ok?"He laid his forehead against hers. A tear dripped off the end of
his nose and this time she didn't kiss it away. She went on, "I
think falling in love is the easy part. Making it work is the hard
part." She rubbed the place over his heart. "I want to believe..."
she gave a small smile, "...I want to believe in the power of our
love."I knew she was waiting but had too much pride to ask him. "I
believe," he whispered in her ear.Her smile became blinding. "Good, now let's see what kind of a
handmaiden you are in the shower." She pulled the glass door open
and stepped in.We watched her twist and flow under the water. She smiled to him
again, reaching her hand out of the shower doorway. He joined her
under the spray. "I believe..." he whispered in her ear again.I had to hurry. Blatt and the cameramen would be here any minute.
I quickly popped the videotapes out of the decks and slipped them
in a duffel bag I'd brought. The sound tapes followed. I adjusted
the equipment slightly so that when they drove up to join me in
the van, bringing coffee and donuts, the reception was bad enough
I could claim I had seen nothing all night long. Blatt gave me a
searching look and let his eyes rest on the fabric of my rumbled
lap, but said nothing more.
Blatt had another plan that unfortunately involved staying in the
van. Now at least the rains had returned and it was cool. Blatt
was asleep beside me and our cameramen were in the back playing
cards.All the other press was down at Agent Scully's apartment building
hovered around the front and back doors. Amateurs. Blatt had
suggested and I had agreed that well-trained FBI agents would be
able to escape the building undetected. We were down the street in
front of Scully's neighborhood coffeehouse, the logical place for
anyone to go on a rainy afternoon.At first I didn't even recognize them. The man was just another
tall dark-haired man. I didn't think Agent Mulder started to be
eye-catching until you got up close. And the woman...she just didn't
look like the Agent Scully I had seen so far.At the bottom of her deep green thick polar fleece pullover she
had on tight spandex running pants, and her muscles rippling with
the supple strength of a cat. She bounced up on the toes of her
thick-soled running shoes like a perky aerobics instructor. She
wasn't a beaten down victim of a madman. She wasn't the worn and
frail woman checking out of the hospital. She wasn't the frantic
hellcat in flannel pajamas. She was what she always had been, a strong
young woman full of life.Her head was a flashing vortex of light and color. Her hair had a
life of its own, red strands whirling and flying around her lively
face. Pearl toned skin and flashing eyes caught the morning light
and reflected back gold. Her coral lips kept in constant motion,
smiling, laughing reaching up to kiss him...I guess I had to admit
to myself I was in love.I wasn't too concerned. I fall in love about four times a week,
but still...They were approaching the coffeehouse on the other side of the
street. I tried to slide down behind the wheel to be less
conspicuous, but there was nothing I could do about the snoring
bulk beside me. For some reason I didn't wake him or alert Hal and
Blatt's guy in the back of the van.They came together before joining the crowd in the coffeehouse,
touching each other as light as butterflies. Their eyes couldn't
seem to meet for longer than a few seconds and then would flutter
away like sparrows. I realized the jaundiced press, me included,
had been wrong all along and the agents had not been lying. All
the odd pieces fit together in my addled brain. They had not been
lovers before yesterday. I could see it now in their behavior. It
was all so new to them.My hand reached out slowly towards Blatt. I watched it, detached
and impartial. Then my hand retracted and fell on the ignition
key. It turned the key and started the engine.I pulled the van away and began driving away from the couple,
increasing my speed with every passing block. Hal stuck his head
through the opening to the back."Raaker, Blatt," Blatt woke with a snort, blinked his piggy little
eyes, "What's going on?"Blatt joined the questioning, "What ya doing...where're we goin'?"
I didn't look at either of them, but eased up on the gas pedal. I
mustn't give away my distress. "Nothing...we're going back to the
news station. The story's over."
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