From: lea_nicci@inbox.com   
      
   *NO ARCHIVE*   
   Title:  A Sideways Figure of Eight    
   Author: Lea Nicci (lea_nicci@inbox.com)    
   Genre:  MSR, present tense - rated "R" (for adult situations)    
   Disclaimer:  Ownership is 1013's.    
   Summary: Eternity lies this way ...   
      
      
   ^*^   
      
   They spend a night together in Montana, the sunrise   
   shadowed in orange.  Scully stands in the motel room's   
   doorway, her palms against the frame, watching Mulder   
   change one of their tires that has somehow gone flat during   
   the night.   
      
   He sweats in the mid-summer heat, smearing a touch of   
   yellow clay on his brow when he tries to brush the sweat from   
   his eyes. His hands are calloused and Scully shivers,   
   remembering them slipping up her legs, his touch like   
   electricity.   
      
   There will be no relief from rain today, she thinks.   
      
   He agrees, without hearing her say anything.  "Not a drop."   
      
   ^*^   
      
   Mulder is certain the boy they are looking for is dead.  He has   
   no evidence, he doesn't even have a reliable hunch, but he's   
   satisfied the case will end the way he predicts -- with nothing   
   to show but a shallow grave, baked hard in the heat.   
      
   Scully has this weird need for proof, so she withholds her   
   judgement from the world at large.  However, she will tell   
   Mulder. "Why are we searching for a corpse?  Isn't it possible   
   that a ransom demand could still be forthcoming?"   
      
   "Nope," Mulder replies, wincing as a sunflower seed shell   
   gets caught between his two front teeth.  "Ow. Fuck."   
      
   Scully has floss in her purse.  She digs for it and hands it to   
   him. "Here."   
      
   He stares at her, then at the floss with a combination of horror   
   and admiration.  "Is this your secret weapon?  Attach a paper   
   clip to it and you'll swing across canyons?"   
      
   She makes a dismissive sound.   
      
   Later, when he's changing for bed, he comes out of the   
   bathroom, foamy toothbrush hanging from his mouth, intent on   
   looking over her shoulder while she types on her laptop.     
      
   She doesn't bother angling the screen away from him -- he'll   
   follow --she just types faster.   
      
   Scanning her report, he seems disgruntled with her version of   
   the day's events. "You think I'm full of crap, don't you?"   
      
   "No, I just see things from a different perspective."   
      
   "Really?" he asks, suddenly dropping the borrowed floss in   
   front of her, no warning.   
      
   She catches it in one hand without looking up.  Puts it down on   
   the desk and goes back to typing.   
      
   "Different perspective, huh?" Mulder snorts and heads back   
   into the bathroom to gargle.   
      
   ^*^   
      
   It's so hot, Scully thinks the fibers in her pantsuit are melting.   
   Mulder shares his ice tea with her -- she thinks she loves him   
   for it.   
      
   The cup is slippery in her hand and the air shimmers with   
   heat. The car has blown another flat, this time in the middle of   
   nowhere, making her compose a mental list of things she's   
   going to say to the owners of the half-assed rental place the   
   Bureau hired for them.   
      
   On the side of the road, Mulder paces, snarling into his cell   
   phone.   
      
   She's not sure of what he's saying; she's still hearing her future   
   wilting remarks play like a recording in her head, but he's   
   angry enough to throw his phone down in the dirt, making her   
   release the straw from her lips.   
      
   "Did you call for a tow?"  She knows he didn't, but he needs   
   some grounding.     
      
   She also wants to know if his phone still works.   
      
   "There are a few things I can't abide by in this life, Scully.  One   
   of them is ..."  He kicks the dirt furiously, creating a tiny cloud   
   of rage beneath his shoe.  "Incompetence that borders on   
   criminal. How is it so hard to follow the very simple instruction   
   to watch the prisoner constantly until we get there?"   
      
   Sighing, she bends and picks up his phone from the dusty   
   ground.  Flipping it open, Scully hears the buzz of a dial tone.   
   Good. "He's gone?"   
      
   "Yes," he hisses, yanking his jacket off.  He tosses it on the   
   car hood with a groan.  "Why is it so hot? Where is that tow   
   truck? Why am I still here? "   
      
   "Do you really want to know?"   
      
   He tilts his head at her.  His cheeks are pink with frustration   
   and there's a sliver of sweat rolling down his neck Scully wants   
   to trace with her tongue.  She wraps her lips back around the   
   straw instead, sucking at it until the last drop is audibly pulled   
   into her mouth, her eyes never leaving his.   
      
   A twitch ripples his cheek.  His eyes drop to her mouth, to her   
   tongue playing with the end of the straw.  "Okay, that's why I'm   
   still here, but ..."   
      
   "There's no tow truck because you didn't call them," Scully   
   explains, tossing his phone to him.  "Heat is caused by the   
   planet's intermittent tilt on its axis drawing this hemisphere   
   closer to the sun.  So unless you can push the Earth into a   
   position of your liking, you might as well just call the tow."   
      
   Mulder grins at her.  While talking to the tow company, he   
   raises a hand and pushes dramatically at the air, grimacing   
   and staggering against it, as if it weighs as much as the Earth   
   itself.   
      
   She returns to nibbling on the straw, watching him through   
   half-lidded eyes.  Wonders if he could move the planet if he   
   really wanted to and is disturbed by the answer her brain   
   gives her.   
      
   Of course he could.  Without a shadow of a doubt.   
      
   It's a scary thought.   
      
   ^*^   
      
   "This is unacceptable," Skinner tells them one afternoon.   
      
   They are marooned in his darkly paneled office, the air-   
   conditioning relentless, silent and far too cold  "I can't tell you   
   what to do with your personal lives, but you have to know you   
   are giving them a weapon of nearly infinite power by carrying   
   on like this."   
      
   "Carrying on, sir?" Mulder looks amused.  "We stopped   
   making out in the hallway, if that's what you're worried about."   
      
   Scully is not as sanguine.  "Mulder," she warns.  Hesitating,   
   she turns to Skinner.  "Sir, this isn't something we planned or   
   debated over time.  It just ... "  God, she feels like teenager,   
   caught by her father, except that Ahab had a better sense of   
   humor than Skinner ever exhibited.  "Happened."   
      
   "Happened," Skinner repeats.  His frown nearly cuts his chin   
   away from the rest of his face.  There is a long silence before,   
   finally, he relents and pinches the bridge of his nose.  "I'm not   
   asking you to *unhappen* this.  I just want you to realize the   
   dangers of this kind of relationship going on while working   
   together.   Mistakes of concentration, of ..."   
      
   "Judgement," Mulder adds helpfully, not even blinking when   
   Scully kicks his ankle. Hard.   
      
   Skinner's lips press flat.  "That's right, Agent.  And frankly, I   
   don't want to be you when you make one of those mistakes   
   and the consequences are more than you're willing to bear."   
      
   Mulder rises, done.  Scully follows automatically.  "We   
   appreciate your concern, sir," Mulder says sincerely.  "But as   
   adults I think we can handle ourselves and our work."   
      
   "Yours isn't ordinary work, not even by our standards, Mulder.   
   Try to keep that in mind." Skinner is also done and Scully   
   wonders how long before the smoking man finds out, before   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)