From: seulementmoi101@hotmail.com   
      
   TITLE:          Unscripted   
   AUTHOR:         Seulement Moi   
   RATING:         PG-13 still.    
   CATEGORY:       MSR, Post-ep   
   SUMMARY:        The best is still unwritten.   
   SPOILERS:       Never Again   
   DISCLAIMER:     I'm just taking them out to play. So sue me. :)   
   FEEDBACK:       Cherished, at: seulementmoi101@hotmail.com   
      
   *~*~*   
      
   There was something on his mind, but he wouldn't say it.  Silence   
   followed.   
      
   This is my life, Mulder.   
      
   Scully looked intently at the wrinkled petal rose in her hand.   
      
   She felt for it. She felt like it. So beautiful and alive once,    
   and now simply a broken shadow of its former self.   
      
   She pondered for a bit. Not dead yet.   
      
   A withering creature, and yet the red still stuck, defying death    
   if only in appearance.   
      
   She touched the creases with delicacy, trying to smooth them out.   
   As if her sweet touch could return life to it.   
      
   Mulder was staring at her. She knew it, but she did not mind him.    
   She concentrated all her will in the crimson object in her hand.   
      
   Stupid man.   
      
   Stupid, foolish man.   
      
   "Why did you keep this, Mulder?" She heard herself say before she    
   knew she had spoken.   
      
   She finally met his eyes and for once, didn't bother to search    
   them for answers.   
      
   "Talk to me for once. This 'guess what I'm thinking game' is    
   getting tiresome."   
      
   It came out harsher than she had intended. But right now, she    
   didn't care. Didn't care at all about his feelings. Today she    
   only cared about herself. And what she felt.   
      
   And he had broken her heart. He might as well suck it up.   
      
   He seemed hurt, but his gaze was insistent. "Why did I keep what?",   
   he said, forcing her to look at him.   
      
   She held the petal to him. "This."   
      
   "You left it there. I haven't cleaned." He pushed.   
      
   Scully stood up then, walked leisurely towards the desk in    
   anticipated glory. She touched her fingertip on the desk's    
   surface. The soft scent of Pledge still in the air.    
      
   She offered a sardonic smile. "Those files over there were here.    
   The Pudovkin files." She pointed to the drawer where they had been   
   neatly put away. His desk was spare of papers. Only the lone file    
   he had just opened littered the table.   
      
   "You cleaned", she accused.   
      
   He stood then. "So?"   
      
   "So...", she mocked him. "You cleaned and you kept the petal. Why?"   
      
   Mulder sulked in silence, unwilling to let her have this one.   
      
   She sighed. "You keep your stupid desk. I don't even need one."   
   As if everything was about the desk.   
      
   She crushed the petal in her palm in defeat as she turned to go.    
   He yanked her back by the arm.   
      
   Her eyes shot him a killer look. 'Let go or else.'   
      
   "You say you're tired of telepathy games, so won't you start with    
   the sharing?"   
      
   She felt the tears tugging in her eyes, but her heart was angry.   
   She was so mad at him she felt she could physically hurt him.    
   Knowing that he was taller and physically stronger than her was    
   frustrating.   
      
   "Aren't you the brilliant profiler? I guess I'm not spooky enough    
   to dwell upon."   
      
   He pulled her closer to him. With what purpose, she didn't know,    
   but she didn't fight it. She felt the warm rage building in the    
   space between them.    
      
   "Spooky? Fucking spooky it was. Wandering around with a    
   pyschopath!"   
      
   "Is that what this is about? About Ed?"   
      
   "This is not about Ed."   
      
   "You jealous?", she nagged. She could see him flush. It was a long   
   shot, but maybe he'd let her win out of annoyance. But he didn't.   
      
   "Did you do all this just to make me jealous?"   
      
   "Not everything is about you, Mulder."   
      
   "Yes, you told me that." He tugged on the arm he had been holding,   
   leaning towards her, "But you did, didn't you?" he asked arrogantly.   
      
   His eyes were piercing hers. Every moment she had guarded her    
   feelings for Mulder, she felt now that she didn't have to anymore.   
   If he wanted the truth, he would have it. He could ignore it as    
   he did everything else regarding her feelings.   
      
   "Did it work?" She could feel her knees failing her, for she had    
   just admitted to him more things that could ever be admitted in a    
   question.  Her anger suddenly drained from her, and it was    
   replaced by fear. But fear of what? She had never been afraid of   
   Mulder.    
      
   He suddenly let go of her arm, giving her back to her. He felt    
   like an idiot. He smoothed his hair as he paced far from her.    
      
   He had been a world-class moron. He didn't quite know how to deal   
   with the dread of losing her. He would usually be a jerk. How did   
   she dare put herself in harm's way? He needed her.   
      
   "Ed Jerse killed the girl that lived beneath his apartment. He    
   chopped her into pieces and threw her into the furnace."   
      
   Scully's eyes had been staring at his back, but they now fell to    
   the floor. She knew it was true. She had just read the case file.   
      
   He turned to her once more. "The next day, as if nothing out of    
   the ordinary had happened in his life, he called this beautiful    
   redhead he'd just met to invite her on a date."   
      
   Scully met his eyes, not knowing if he expected her to say    
   something.    
      
   Damn it, she was the one that was hurt, she was the one that was    
   angry. Why did she feel the need to apologize to him?   
      
   "How could you be so naive?  You are smarter than that." She knew    
   he didn't intend to be insulting, yet she felt her blood boil.   
      
   He was right. Ed had displayed strange behavior. She had ignored    
   it and went out with him without giving it a second thought.   
      
   She wasn't about to admit he was right, though. He had been a jerk   
   to her. Barking orders, being smug about him finding the X-files,   
   insinuating that they couldn't mean the same to him as they did to   
   her. Damn if they did. She had her own X-file. Wait, no. She had    
   a personal record: two X-files.   
      
   They had become her life. Whether she intented for it to happen   
   or not.   
      
   "I simply accepted an invitation. What were the odds that he'd be    
   a psycho? I've been in far more dead-threating situations..."    
   She stared at him. She needn't say more. He knew perfectly well    
   what she was talking about.   
      
   "With me." He thought out loud, stepping closer to her, until he    
   was inches from her face.   
      
   He placed his hands on her neck as if he were about to strangle her,   
   but his thumbs drifted to her cheeks.   
      
   "You want out?" Barely a whisper, but still demanding.   
      
   "Do you want me out?" she murmured.   
      
   She knew the answer, and so did he. But he would never say it.     
      
   He pushed her to the wall then. His eyes transfixed hers. He    
   buried his face in her neck, his hair tickling her.    
      
   "Did you sleep with him?" His lips seethed in her earlobe.   
      
   "Does it matter?" Her reply came out remorseless, taunting.   
      
   She felt his breath on her neck as he sighed in frustration. Scully    
   knew he would never consciously hurt her, but she couldn't predict   
   his reaction. Angry Mulder broke stuff, tore the place down. In the   
   best of cases, he'd just walk out on her without saying a word. But    
   he wasn't really moving away from her, but closer to her.    
      
   She caught her breath as she felt warm dampness in her skin.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)