From: pecan@hotmail.com   
      
   River Of Tears By FOXGLOVE   
   Feedback: Yes please.   
   pstanford@vtown.com.au   
   X files belongs to CC and Fox.   
      
   MT, A, MSR, Casefile, profiler Mulder   
      
   PG   
      
   Written for the longer Story challenge   
   (Open theme 45-120)   
   One Mulder's Refuge.   
      
   River of Tears   
      
      
   Scully's Apartment. 4am Sunday.   
      
    Dana Scully was not happy, it was early on Sunday morning,   
   so early in fact that it was still dark outside. She and   
   Mulder had finally managed to fall into bed sometime around   
   midnight after working seemingly non-stop for over three   
   weeks. Their last case been an elaborate hoax perpetrated   
   by some very creative but exceedingly bored university   
   students. A snap strike by airport staff had meant that   
   instead of being able to fly home, they had spent the last   
   fourteen hours driving. Then to top it all off, the weather   
   had been absolutely miserable; unseasonably low temperatures   
   accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds had dogged them   
   as they tramped around the varied delights of Madison   
   Wisconsin. They both had a suitcase full of saturated   
   clothes and waterlogged footwear. The only thing that   
   they had planned for today was a long leisurely sleep in.   
      
   Therefore, finding herself lying in bed staring up at the   
   ceiling trying to figure out what had woken her did not   
   put Scully in a very good frame of mind.   
      
   She ran through a mental checklist; it was still raining   
   heavily outside, but it had been doing that when they went   
   to bed, so that was unlikely to have caused her sudden   
   bout of sleeplessness. She did not think she had been woken   
   by Mulder's nocturnal wanderings; he was curled up on his   
   side facing away from her, and from the look of things,   
   still soundly asleep.   
      
   Wearily, Scully sighed and rolled closer to Mulder,   
   she brushed her fingers lightly down the length of   
   his torso until she came to the hem of his tee shirt.   
   She remembered how tired they had both been; Mulder   
   barely taking time to shuck his pants and shirt before   
   collapsing into bed; she had paused long enough to   
   snuggle into another of Mulder's well-worn tee shirts   
   before following him into slumber.   
      
   Smoothing her hand over Mulder's flat stomach, she   
   stopped in sudden realization that his skin was warmer   
   than usual. She pressed her lips to the back of his neck   
   in the tried and true method and frowned, he did not have   
   a fever, at least not yet, but it looked like he was well   
   on his way.   
      
   She was not surprised, they had both spent more than their   
   fair share of time in wringing wet clothes; it stood to   
   reason that one if not both of them would come down with   
   a cold.   
      
   Scully moved her hand and absently counted his respirations   
   while listening to him breathe; there was some congestion   
   building already. She reached down and pulled the comforter   
   further up over his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she began to   
   prepare a mental checklist; the most important thing was to   
   contact Skinner and arrange for a couple of days off for both   
   of them. With any luck and a lot of co-operation from Mulder,   
   they could nip this cold in the bud and prevent it from   
   developing into anything more serious. Scully gave a soft   
   snort; she had just included Mulder and co-operation in the   
   same sentence. Mulder co-operative; that was an oxymoron if   
   ever she had heard one. She drifted back to sleep, thoughts   
   of how she was going to get her partner to take it easy   
   whirling through her mind.   
      
      
   Sunday Morning   
   5.20 am.   
      
   Yet again, she was pulled unwillingly from the depths of   
   dreamland; it took several seconds for her mind to register   
   what had woken her this time; realizing that a phone was   
   ringing had her instantly alert. It wasn't hers that was   
   trilling madly, it was Mulder's, whom she noticed with some   
   chagrin, was still soundly asleep. Clambering out of the   
   snug nest of blankets, Scully stumbled over to the pile of   
   clothes that Mulder had carelessly dropped on the floor.   
   She dug through pockets until she found the device that   
   had shattered her sleep.   
      
   Prodding her somnolent partner none too gently, Scully   
   held the phone out. The only reaction she received was   
   an indistinct mumbling.   
      
   "Mulder wake up!" She shook his shoulder again.   
      
   "No, 'm sleepin'."   
      
   Scully sighed, wondering how much patience the caller   
   possessed. "Mulder, your phone's ringing."   
      
   "Mmph." Without opening his eyes, Mulder reached out,   
    Scully placed it in his hand, his fingers closing   
   around the casing.   
      
   "Mulder." His eyes remained closed but Scully could   
   see his fingers tighten involuntarily.   
      
   "Yes sir...umm when...today...yes sir...uh no...yes   
    sir...yes sir."   
      
   Mulder pressed the disconnect button with slightly   
   more force than necessary and rolled over onto his   
   back. "Shit!"   
      
   "Skinner?" Scully enquired from where she was crouched   
    on the floor.   
      
   "Yeah." Mulder cracked his eyes open. "What's the time?"   
      
   "5.23am, what did he want?"   
      
   "We have a meeting with our esteemed A. D. in one hour   
   and thirty seven minutes." Mulder groaned and rubbed   
   his hand across his forehead. "God, I feel like something   
   chewed me up and spat me out."   
      
   Scully rolled her eyes. "Nice analogy Mulder, I hate to be   
   the bearer of more bad news but it looks like you're coming   
   down with a cold." She moved from the floor and sat next to   
   Mulder pulling her knees up under her chin.   
      
   "I don't wanna do this Scully."   
      
   "You're not the only one, I was looking forward to a nice   
   relaxing sleep in."   
      
   "Oh were you now." Eyes crinkling with mischief, Mulder   
   reached out and ran his fingers down Scully's bare leg.   
      
   "Yes, doing nothing more than sleeping...stop that."   
      
   "Are you sure that you just wanted to sleep?"   
      
   Scully looked thoughtful. "Yes I think so, why did you   
   have something planned."   
      
   Mulder raised himself up on his elbow. "Oh nothing specific,   
   but I'm sure I could've pulled something out of my hat." His   
   fingers resumed their gentle exploration.   
      
   Scully burst into giggles. "Your hat! Is that where you keep   
   it Mulder?"   
      
   Mulder reached out and pulled her down on top of him. "I'll   
   show you where I keep it." He grinned, his long fingers   
   tickling unmercifully.   
      
   "No...don't...Mulder!" Scully squirmed breathlessly.   
      
   "Why not?"   
      
   "Because." Scully glanced over at the bedside clock. "We   
   now have one hour and twenty six minutes before we have   
   to meet Skinner." She twisted out of his loose embrace.   
   "And I for one am not going to miss out on a nice warm   
   shower." She scooted to the end of the bed before raising   
   an eyebrow. "Besides I thought you said you weren't feeling   
   the best."   
      
   "There are certain things that a man is prepared to put   
   before his health you know."   
      
   "Well you're just going to have to tie a knot in it until we   
   find out what Skinner wants us for."   
      
   "Did you know that you're a spoilsport Scully?" Mulder griped.   
      
      
   "You can blame that one on the boss." She tossed over her   
   shoulder as she headed for the bathroom.   
      
      
      
   A.D. Skinner's Office.   
      
   7am Sunday.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)