Subject: *NEW* "Off the Beaten Track" (1/1) by Nora Katherine From: spooky42@juno.com Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 01:32:17 EDT ============================= "Off the Beaten Track" written by Nora Katherine post date: 23rd October 1997 ============================== DISCLAIMER: Mulder and Scully and the small spoiler in which I am basing this on do not belong to me, they all belong to Chris Carter and his talented team of writers and producers... now, hurry up already and get this show off the ground! DISTRIBUTE: Anywhere; please keep story, author, and e-mail intact. RATING: PG CONTENT/SPOILER: Tiny spoilers for US season 5... Mulder/Scully UST. ARCHIVE: V; R SUMMARY: Based on episode summary of "Detour." Mulder and Scully are stranded together and find a bit of time for a little talk.... ================================= "Off the Beaten Track" (part 1/1) Dana Scully sighed, looking at her partner who was huddled next to her. She didn't have to look very far, as his face was practically touching hers, they were in such close proximity. "Now, remind me again, Mulder," she said. "Why exactly did we decide to stop off?" "We didn't decide to *stop off,*" Mulder replied, the sarcasm in his voice obvious. "There was that roadblock which was caused by the very thing that we're hiding from at this moment." "But what is it that we're hiding from again?" Scully asked. Truthfully, her knees were starting to ache, and before long, she had a feeling that her back was going to give out on her as well. Being crouched over in a storm drain over fifteen feet from level ground was not exactly her idea of a good time. "I don't know," he replied, shivering. "Mulder," she said, glaring back at him, "I don't know how, and I don't know when, but one of these days, you are going to die... by my hand... for subjecting me to things like this." Mulder barely blinked, staring back at her. Instead, a slow grin began to form on his face. "You know how cute you look when you get really angry like that?" Scully merely let out a frustrated "Errrr..." and turned around so she wouldn't have to look at him. Mulder didn't say anything as well, and the two sat in relative silence for the next minute, or so. However, the silence seemed like an eternity before Scully finally broke it. Her voice was weak and timid as she said, "Mulder... how long are we going to be waiting in here?" Mulder took in a breath, mustering a bit of strength before he replied, "I really don't know, Scully." He reached over and touched her damp, matted-down hair, smoothing it out. "Ohhhh..." she groaned. "Don't look at it. I look awful after all of this..." Her voice trailed off as she made a face to glance over at her partner. To her surprise, he was simply studying her with an air of fascination that she never would have suspected. "What?" she asked. "Nothing," he said. "I was just thinking." "About what?" Mulder raised his eyebrows at her. "About a lot of things. But, um..." He shook his head. "I don't know..." His hand rubbed his eyes for a second, and he slid down into the best sitting position he could get in the all-too-small drain pipe. "So much has happened, Scully. Everything is... so different than it used to be." Scully pursed her lips at her partner. "How do you mean?" "Well..." His hand reached over, and he patted hers that was wrapped around her knee. "You, for example... I mean, I thought..." Scully nodded, looking right back at him, her incredibly sharp eyes piercing the hazel abyss that was his. "So did I, Mulder. You have no idea." She noticed his eyes starting to moisten-- or was it just the fact that they were soaked to the bone, and dripping off of all appendages, as it was? It was too hard to determine, she thought. Not like she could afford to be thinking about that, anyway. There was a group of survivalists out there somewhere in the woods looking for them. The two agents didn't know who they were or what they looked like, but somehow, after hot pursuit by the invisible attackers, they had ended up in this storm drain. Unfortunately, being stuck in there wasn't providing them with any answers, either. They were going to have to come out eventually, Scully thought. But it wasn't going to be right at that moment, as far as she was concerned. "So what are we going to do until then?" Scully asked. A healthy beat passed before Mulder replied, "You have a deck of cards?" She sighed again, rolling her eyes for emphasis. Her partner could be so ludicrous sometimes. "Mulder..." She didn't even need to finish her sentence before he was wordlessly surrendering to her. Instead of confronting her, however, he changed the subject. "Do you ever regret getting involved in the with this department, Scully?" "The X-files, you mean?" she asked. Mulder nodded slightly. It was a serious question, she thought. Considering everything that he implicated by just asking it. Reliving the grief of her sister's death. That awful night where she had first found out about her cancer... But was it regret? Scully really wasn't sure. And that was how she answered. "You're not sure?" Mulder asked, uneasy about how to respond to that. "Well, Mulder... do you remember that one time, when you asked me if I could go back, would I change anything, do you remember that?" "When?" "When we were on that case with the Temple of the Seven Stars," Scully explained, her tone hushed. She knew how much emotional Mulder had invested into that case, and she still really didn't know how he felt about the entire thing. Scully wondered, somewhere deep inside, if he still truly thought that Melissa Ridell Ephesian had actually been his soulmate. Well, she chided herself, that was irrelevant, anyhow. "Yeah," Mulder replied, interrupting her thoughts. "You said.... that you wouldn't change a day." He regarded her with a pensive look. "Yeah, I did," Scully said. "So?" Mulder asked. "So... what?" "Has your opinion changed?" Scully's mouth tightened. Another honest question, and again, there were a lot of implications. What if they =had= been able to change the past, preventing her entire abduction from ever happening in the first place? she wondered. Would she have wanted to change it then? She didn't know... but she knew what she had to tell Mulder, despite her uncertainty of thoughts. "No." Mulder's face perceptibly lightened at that reply. "Really?" he asked softly. "Mulder," Scully said, speaking as plainly and easily as she could, "I know a lot of challenging and awful things have happened, both in my life, and your life as well. But along with the bad things that happen, there are always good things that follow." "What is one of the good things in your life, Scully?" Mulder asked, almost sounding like a kindergarten teacher. Scully smiled, both at his tone of voice, and the response she knew she was about to give. "You are, Mulder." Again, a subtle, but significant reaction occurred across Mulder's face, giving away his true feelings about what it meant to him. It obviously meant a lot. It was a few moments before he could gather himself, but finally, he looked back up at her, nodding. "Yeah.. you, too, Scully. You, too." Just then, a loud voice boomed out, interrupting their quiet reverie. "Listen, you two federal government conspirators! We know that you're in that drain pipe! I've got three men with high-powered assault rifles aimed at you at this moment! If you don't show your faces within ten seconds, you're both going to be blown to pieces faster than you can say that Roswell never existed!" "But Roswell did exist!" Mulder called out of the pipe. "Very funny!" the gravelly voice replied, obviously not amused. "Now, get your puny little white Washington asses out of there before we really get upset!" Scully shot Mulder a look. "Way to make good relations, partner..." At that, they slowly made a crawl to the edge of the drain pipe, holding their hands up for the formally anonymous survivalists who had three very powerful weapons pointed at them. "Good... now, drop all of your weapons down below! Now! If I find any on you later, your heads are going to be blown off!" "Yeah, Scully," Mulder sighed quietly while releasing the gun from his holster. "It's definitely going to be a long day...." --- the end --- Yeah, this was a pretty short and pointless little number, but I couldn't stop thinking about that episode as soon as I heard about it... and you know you're obsessed when you see a sign that says "detour" on it and you start screaming.... You obsessed, too? Or maybe you just liked the story? yeah, yeah, yeah... please, write me: non_profit@juno.com spooky42@juno.com