From: theidiosyncraticstanwyck@yahoo.com   
      
   Title: Spectrum   
   Author: the idiosyncratic stanwyck   
   Email: theidiosyncraticstanwyck@yahoo.com   
   Category/Keywords: AU, MSR, A (not too much)   
   Rating: PG-13; R or NC-17 sections will be marked   
   Summary: A woman meets a man who opens her eyes to a vast,   
   unexpected spectrum of beautiful, terrifying possibilities.   
      
   Chapter 5: Yellow   
      
   "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, and   
   everything you do. Yeah, they were all yellow. I came   
   along, I wrote a song for you and all the things you do,   
   and it was called yellow." - Coldplay   
      
   **   
      
   October dovetailed almost imperceptibly into November, the   
   change in the night sky visible only to the discerning eye   
   as fuzzy midnight clouds melted away to leave a canvas of   
   pure, sleek black dotted with the tiny, diamond-hard and   
   clear studs of bright gas expending their energies millions   
   of light-years away.   
      
   Mulder melted seamlessly into Dana and Chloe's lives,   
   somehow diffusing the idea that he had always been there,   
   not taken for granted but accepted as unquestioningly as   
   one accepted breathing or aging or opening one's eyes in   
   the morning, any natural process of life. He haunted   
   Scully's office, allowed her to explore the secrets of his   
   apartment, and looked divine ornamenting her living room   
   sofa when he wasn't traveling to the four corners of the   
   United States on the promotional book tour she and his   
   agent had thrust upon him as a fait accompli.   
      
   Dana scrawled her signature on the bottom of a six-page   
   printout of legal jargon and dropped her pen. Leaning back   
   in her desk chair and arching her neck, she sighed. "That's   
   the last of those, thank God."   
      
   John stood up and began to unroll his sleeves. "I'm   
   finishing up too. I thought I'd head out a few minutes   
   early, if it's all the same to you."   
      
   "Oh, that's right!" Scully exclaimed, sitting up straight.   
   "You've got a date with that lawyer tonight - Bill?"   
      
   "Blake." John shrugged into his suit jacket and carefully   
   smoothed out a wrinkle perceptible only to his fastidious   
   eye. "We're going out for Thai food - I had coconut oil and   
   egg noodles in my shopping cart when we met, so I guess the   
   counselor made an inference."   
      
   "Well, let's hope he's as skilled in the bedroom as he is   
   in the courtroom and supermarket, hmm?" she teased.   
      
   "You know, Danes, you should shop more - you never know   
   when you might find true love in the produce section." She   
   only laughed and shook her head, and John gathered a stack   
   of papers into his briefcase. "Oh, by the way - the Little   
   Theatre is doing The Wizard of Oz. Do you and Chloe want to   
   go to the Sunday matinee?"   
      
   Searching the recesses of her purse for a piece of   
   Nicorette, Scully shook her head without looking up.   
   "Thanks, but we can't. We're going to see the modern   
   collection at the National Gallery with Mulder."   
      
   "With Mulder? Didn't you have dinner with him Monday, and   
   go to a movie last night?"   
      
   "Yeah. He wanted to see that action thing that Clo has been   
   talking about for weeks. So?"   
      
   "So, is he coming over tonight?"   
      
   "We're going bowling," Scully replied with as much dignity   
   as she could muster.   
      
   John guffawed. "Bowling?"   
      
   "We're taking some of Chloe's friends. So?" she repeated,   
   her tone growing sharper.   
      
   "So, I retract my earlier statement. If Mulder has already   
   managed to get you into bowling shoes, you may not need the   
   supermarket."   
      
   John had always thought Dana would be a hell of a lot more   
   fun to play with if only she'd rise to his bait once in a   
   while. True to form, she swallowed her exasperation and   
   presented him with a tight-lipped smile. "Get out of here   
   and have fun tonight, huh? Call me tomorrow."   
      
   Relenting, he swooped down to kiss the top of her head as   
   he beat a path toward the door. "I'll be prepared for a no-   
   holds-barred tell-all that would make Liz Smith proud," he   
   promised, and winked, helpless to resist one last jibe.   
   "Say hi to Mulder for me. And Dana - he looks like the kind   
   of man who'd enjoy a big pancake breakfast on a Saturday   
   morning to renew the energy he expended during a long   
   Friday night of lovin'."   
      
   **   
      
   After throwing her third gutter ball in a row, Scully   
   turned away from the lanes to face Mulder, her hands on her   
   hips and a rueful smile gracing her lips. "That's it - I'm   
   too old for this."   
      
   Mulder patted the plastic seat beside him and she collapsed   
   gracelessly onto it with a relieved groan. Without a second   
   thought, he draped his arm around her shoulders and tugged   
   her into his chest.   
      
   "You look exhausted," he pointed out, his gaze tracing the   
   faint purple shadows beneath her eyes. "Do you feel all   
   right?"   
      
   "Yeah." Sitting up, Scully forced a smile, then glanced   
   away as she explained, "It's nothing - I've just been   
   having trouble sleeping.  You know, weird dreams."  She   
   stood up. "I'm going to get a soda. Do you want anything?   
   Iced tea with sugar?"   
      
   Mulder shot her a strange look. "How do you know how I take   
   my tea?"   
      
   She paused, frowning. "Oh, I'm sure you told me. I'll be   
   back in a minute."   
      
   As she walked away, Mulder's gaze remained fixed on her   
   back, his expression unreadable.   
      
   After she had missed three frames, Mulder slipped away from   
   the girls to go in search of Scully. Spotting no familiar   
   blur of bright hair near the snack bar, he slipped out the   
   side door to the parking lot. It had rained earlier, and   
   swirls of oil shone magenta and silver blue where they   
   sparkled against the blackness of the asphalt. The damp air   
   hovered just this side of frigid; it would've been good   
   football weather.   
      
   She was sitting on the curb, her body tucked close over her   
   knees for warmth. The ember of her cigarette glowed   
   brightly in the darkness. His shoes crunched on loose   
   gravel as he walked over to join her.   
      
   "It's freezing out here."   
      
   Huddled in her denim jacket, Scully arched an eyebrow.   
   "Really? I hadn't noticed."   
      
   "I thought you were quitting."   
      
   Scully blew out a curl of smoke and speculatively eyed the   
   cigarette between her fingers. "Yeah. I still am."   
      
   "Tomorrow?"   
      
   She grinned ruefully. "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow." She ground   
   the butt into the pavement. "You ever smoke, Mulder?"   
      
   "Only weed."   
      
   Her laugh was a surprise. An SUV glided by on the access   
   road, water whooshing beneath its tires.   
      
   "I started after John and I had been married a few months.   
   I'd already started to feel cagey, and I had to do...   
   something." She laughed again. "It never occurred to me to   
   have an affair. That's why I'm Catholic. I felt guilty   
   enough about smoking cigarettes. But I guess everybody   
   needs a little pollution, you know?"   
      
   She stared thoughtfully out over the parking lot for a few   
   minutes, then lit another cigarette. "I quit. Didn't smoke   
   for nearly ten years. And then seven years ago, I started   
   again."   
      
   "What happened seven years ago?"   
      
   "I got sick."   
      
   He waited, but she remained silent. "Sick?" Mulder's voice   
   was hushed. He dreaded hearing the answer almost as much as   
   she dreaded giving it.   
      
   Scully took a long drag and didn't look at him. "I had   
   ovarian cancer. It was pretty bad."   
      
   Pretty bad. Diagnosed only five months after Melissa's   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)