From: Lisa Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 17:23:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Story Submission Source: direct Title: Always Keep You Guessing Author: Lis Suvari Rating: PG Classification: SRA (Mulder/Scully, duh!) Spoilers: Firewalker Keywords: Post-ep vinegrette Summary: A night in the decontamination unit brings the agents closer than they have ever been, body and soul. Disclaimer: Must I really do one of these? * sigh * I suppose. It's not like ol' Chris is actually gonna read this. I don't own Mulder and Scully, I don't own Firewalker, and if I did I'd have made them get closer a hell of a lot faster then HE did. On the downside, I couldn't afford to feed them at $5.15/hour... Oh well. Author's notes: This is my first fic that I've actually done to completion, so BE KIND, pwease! I need feedback like a car needs gas and Bill Clinton needs interns, come on! PrincessJedi21@yahoo.com Always Keep You Guessing By Lis Suvari Mulder heard a soft sigh coming from the other side of the curtain. He sat up, once again cursing the uncomfortable standard-issue cot beneath him. It was only their first night in quarantine-he and Scully had a whole * month * left in this Godforsaken place. Another quiet sound came from the other side of the observation room. Mulder got to his feet, and slowly drew back the bright yellow divider. Scully lay on her cot, gray blanket tossed aside. She twisted about in the throws of sleep, her face molded into an expression of utmost fear. She moaned, then became silent, her back stiff. Mulder approached her silently, a look of almost wonder upon his face. He descended down to his knees at her bedside. Mulder suddenly realized she was reliving the moments before he had found her outside the door at the compound, chained to a dead Jesse O'Neil inside. His heart twisted cruelly, and he drew his fingers lightly over his partner's troubled features. Her quiet began to turn to panic once again- he knew he had to rouse her from her sleep. Mulder gently tapped Scully's flushed cheeks noticing her gaunt cheekbones. She's been like this since... since... He couldn't bring himself to say the words, even to himself, inside his head. But Mulder's mind whispered the epitaphs to him... Her abduction... they took her... made her feel pain... because of you. He shook his head to clear it, and turned his attention back to the petite redhead who lay before him. Scully still hadn't woken, her breathing growing more rapid by the instant as she mentally watched Jesse struggle desperately against the Plexiglas and against the organism trying to force its way through the skin of her throat. Mulder knew what was coming in her dream- he had to wake her quickly. He half-lifted Scully and shook her by her shoulders. Her ice blue eyes snapped open in shock, and locked with his soulful green ones. She looked momentarily surprised, but it soon came rushing back into her awareness. Her face crumbled like the proverbial cookie, and Mulder quietly slipped his arms around her shaking form. He mentally winced at the feel of protruding ribs, but outwardly, he snuggled her closer to himself. Scully closed her eyes in a valiant effort not to cry, to no avail. The large translucent orbs made tiny rivers down her pale cheeks, and onto Mulder's shirt. She felt his grip tighten at this, but pulled back to look up at him once again. Their eyes spoke volumes to each other, as always. "It's not your fault," she voiced. "Maybe, maybe not," he argued. "But I'm still sorry. It happened." His warm breath tickled her chin, and she shivered. Scully smiled slightly at him, and spoke a sentence that took Mulder completely by surprise. "Stay with me tonight?" He didn't answer, only caressed her cheek once, stood, and brought his cot next to hers, the two forming one. He lay in the middle of them, opening his arms to her. Doesn't seem so uncomfortable now, does it. Scully crawled to him, and curled up against him, one of Mulder's arms a pillow, the other the warmest and softest blanket one could ever have. Mulder kissed her forehead and listened as she quietly mused. "We didn't die up there in those mountains." "No, we didn't," he smiled. She smiled back at him, making a face worthy of even the best 3rd grader, eyes crossed, tongue stuck out. "My my, Miss Scully, is that look something you'd like to use for show and tell?" He did his best impression of the nuns he supposed taught Scully at Catholic school. "'Course not, Teach, this face is only for you... and show and tell doesn't start for a few more days... Say, a month." She grinned, displaying her perfect pearly whites in an expression she reserved for him and few others. Mulder just shook his head. "You'll always keep me guessing, Scully." Finished. That's it. The end... Unless, by some miracle, I get feedback asking for a sequel.