Title: Something Matters Author: Devin Email: franny122004@gmail.com Website: http://franny122004.tripod.com/ Rating: PG Category: SAR Keywords: MSR, post-ep One Son, pre/during-Arcadia Spoilers: One Son, Arcadia, brief mention of The End Summary: He made a really big mistake. *Sequel to Nothing Else Matters* Disclaimer: If they were mine 'One Son' never would have happened. Author's Note: This is my contribution to the 'this is not right, we've got to fix it' stories, I know that it's been done before but I really had to get this ep out of my system. You don't have to have read 'Nothing Else Matters', just know that they got together after the Beginning, however I strongly recommend that you do read it ;). Mulder looked around his office for the first time since it had officially become his again. The walls were plain; apparently Spender had felt no need to decorate. There was still only the one desk, and the entire place felt like a sterile hospital room. He and Scully would have to fix it up again. Where was she anyway? He hadn't seen her since Friday when they had their meeting with Kersh and Skinner. Not that he had tried to get in touch with her at any point during the weekend, though he had picked up the phone several times. The look she had given him after the meeting had stopped him each time from dialing. Anger or sadness he could have taken, but the blank look she had given him sent a pang resonating in his chest. It was the same look she gave him when they first found out about her cancer. The same look he got when he asked how she was after her chemo, or when she had a nosebleed. He hadn't realized he'd been staring at the door until Scully opened it and walked in. He had to adjust his eyes from the soft focus they had slipped into so that he could take her in. She looked exactly the same as she did every morning. She gave him a small smile and said good morning. What had he been expecting? Not this. The cold shoulder treatment. Awkward silence. Anything really, except normality. "Sorry I'm late. Skinner asked me to pick up a new case he has for us. I haven't read it yet but we don't have to leave yet anyway. He said he wants us to have a couple days to get settled in here again." She set her briefcase on his desk and reached across to hand him the case file. As he reached up to take it he noticed that she moved her hand back slightly so that it had no chance of brushing his. She made some excuse about needing to do an autopsy for the VCU and that she'd be back after lunch. She gave him the same smile she had when she entered the office and after a, "Bye. I'll call if anything else comes up," she was gone again. Things were definitely not normal. *** Married. They had to pretend to be married. A week ago he would have been sure that they would have had the time of their lives, laughing it up and playing house, but that was a week ago. Part of the file, which he hoped would transform into a normal X-File before his eyes, was their instructions on who to contact to set up identities before their briefing. Shoving the file aside he turned his chair to look at where his poster used to be. He remembered Scully joking once about the poster having a better shot than cockroaches at surviving a nuclear holocaust. They had both almost believed it too. It was what knocked him back into reality last summer, seeing the poster destroyed. He'd wanted nothing more than to collapse into Scully's embrace as they stood among the ashes but he couldn't. All he could think was what if they weren't a Phoenix, what if they couldn't rise from the ashes and recover from this blow? It scared him when he realized that his thought had traveled a similar path this weekend. The phone rang. "Mulder." "Hey, it's me. It's looking like I'll be here all day. Do you have everything under control there?" Briefly he wondered if she had to call in any favors to make sure she was out of the office today, but brushed it off. "Yeah, everything's fine. What are you doing for dinner?" "I don't know. Depends on what's in my fridge." "There can't be much in there if you don't know what's in it. How bout I take you out? To celebrate getting the X-Files back." For a moment the only indication that she hadn't hung up was the lack of dial tone. "That sounds great, Mulder, but I don't think I can tonight. How about after the case is over?" "Yeah, sure, Scully," was his only reply before hanging up. 'Great,' he thought. 'Now what am I suppose to do?' 'Well you could always look at the case file for a start,' a voice answered sarcastically. Ignoring the voice but flipping open the file just the same, he began to read. His eyes glanced over a brochure that had been added describing the neighborhood. 'God, it looks like a place that should be on Nick-at-Night reruns.' *** He hadn't meant to show up on her doorstep tonight, he really hadn't, but he needed to fix this and fix this now. He wasn't an idiot, he knew she was upset and he knew why, but unless she stopped avoiding him and pretending she was fine he couldn't fix it. And that was not going to happen on a case. So, it would either be tonight or he would have to wait at least a week for his next opportunity. So, with only a minor hesitation, he knocked. "Mulder?" "We need to talk." Nodding, but acting like she had no idea why they would need to talk, she stepped back to allow him access to her apartment. "Is it something to do with the case?" He gave her a 'don't be stupid' look and shook his head. "What then?" "Are we just going to ignore what happened in the Lone Gunmen's office last week?" "Mulder, nothing happened. I presented you with evidence that you didn't believe was enough to merit the conclusion I had drawn. That's all. It's not the first time and it won't be the last." "So yes, we are going to ignore it." "I just said-" "No, I heard what you said and it does sound like a perfectly rational explanation. But we both know there's more to it than that. Because if there wasn't, then you wouldn't have spent the weekend and today avoiding me." "I had to do an autopsy. And besides we don't have to spend every waking moment together." "But we were." "Then maybe it was time for a breather." "How long of a breather were you hoping for?" They stared each other down, both knowing the deeper meaning behind the question. Scully shook her head and looked at him sadly. "Go home, Mulder. I'll see you in the office tomorrow before-" "I'm not leaving until we talk about this." "Well the couch is quite comfortable, I'll get you a blanket." Letting out an unmistakable groan of frustration and scrubbing his hands down his face, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Why do you have to make things so difficult? Does every thing have to be a battle?" He expected her to whirl around and argue with him but instead he saw an almost imperceptible sag of her shoulders. "This part isn't suppose to be easy, Mulder," she whispered in a way that made him want to hold her until all the pain left her but he didn't get the chance because she started walking down the hall. "I'll get you that blanket." He left before she came back with it. *** The flight to San Diego, California had all the potential of being the most uncomfortable hours of their lives but it wasn't. By some unspoken agreement they decided to pretend that the night before hadn't happened, that they were 'just so happy to be there and back on the X- Files'; so they pulled off a fa‡ade of normalcy. But that's all it was, a fa‡ade. *** Five delays later they were standing in the airport looking for the agent that was suppose to pick them up. It only took a couple seconds to notice a wildly gesturing man in a suit, speaking hurriedly into his cell phone. "Yes, sir, I'll have them there in twenty minutes. I'll brief them in the car. Are the mini-van and movers ready?" He glanced quickly at Mulder and Scully before returning to his conversation. "Yes, sir, it looks like they're going to have to change quickly." The agent hung up his phone and bustled them towards baggage claim. "I assume you packed light, we've got all of your wardrobe picked out. These guys are a stickler for rules and we didn't want to risk you accidentally breaking one by packing the wrong thing." Scully, who had to walk double time to keep up with both men, stopped his nervous chattering by asking, "What do you mean our wardrobe? Why can't we dress like ourselves?" Mulder cut the anxious agent off and answered for him. "Skinner thought it would be better if we went undercover. 'Prospective home buyers' was the term I believed he used." "And you didn't feel the need to inform me of this?" "We didn't get that far into the conversation last I talked to you." And, with the mere allusion to the previous night, the argument ceased. *** A Couple Days Later A hole. They had a hole in their front yard. If he wasn't so tired he'd come up with a joke or a metaphor or something about it, but all his energy had to go into thinking up a way to turn a relatively small hole into a big ass hole. Scully walked in after he had started searching through the CC&Rs, carrying two plates with sandwiches on them. "Do you want some help?" Not looking up from the binder he said, "Sure," and moved the binder so she could read it too. This was the most at ease they had been with each other since they arrived. For half an hour they did nothing but read and eat together. "Here's something," Mulder said, pointing out a section. "There's no rule against reflecting pools, we could dig deep with that." "Mulder? Do you really think the Klines are in our front yard?" "Yeah, I do." He followed her as she gathered up the dishes and tried to help but she wouldn't let him. "Why?" "It just seems like something the mafia would do, not a planned community." She glanced at him, but he made no comment. "They all know. They all know and they're doing nothing." Tentatively, he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump. It was a testament to how bad their relationship was at the moment, she was more on edge when he was touching her than before. "Mulder..." But this time he wasn't going to back down. "How long are we going to do this?" "It hasn't been a week." "Oh, sorry. I didn't get the schedule. When are we allowed to talk again? How 'bout touch? Or do anything outside of work for that matter?" "This time is more for you than me." "Well, that makes perfect sense. I mean, I'm only the person fighting against this 'break', so it makes sense that it would be for me." "You're also the one who ran off with another woman! And she was your ex at that." He was about to argue but she cut him off. "What went through your head? Was it something like: 'Hmm, the devil incarnate just told me about a way to save myself and the people I love. Trusting him goes against everything I stand for, but screw that. So, I'm going to hang out here and make sure Diana goes with me and then, hey, I might even call Scully!'" At this point she was yelling, but was so angry she didn't care. A look of disbelief had spread across his face while she spoke until he looked utterly dumbfounded. "Is that really what you think?" By the way she walked out of the room to try and hide the tears that had welled up in her eyes, he could tell that she did. But he wasn't going to let her walk away from this conversation again. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. She made a choking sound as she forces herself to control her tears, and she still wouldn't meet his eyes so she was staring at his throat. "I came after you. When you wouldn't go with us I left her to meet you." He cupped her cheek and raised her head. "I chose you." She hated how needy her next words sounded but they slipped out anyway. "Then why does it feel like I lose you whenever she's around?" "Probably because a part of me still feels like I owe her something." "Because you were married?" His jaw almost literally hit the floor. "How-" "When the guys were doing the background check on her. They tried to hide it from me, but subtlety is not one of their best qualities." They both chuckled briefly but the tension suffocated the brief merriment. "Why didn't you tell me?" "I didn't know how to." "It's not like I wanted all the sordid details," this was said with a truly disgusted look on her face, "but some prior notice would've been nice." He held up a couple fingers in a mock imitation of a boy scout. "Duly noted." He paused to brush stray tears from her cheek. "We okay?" "We're getting there." Smiling, he pulled her into a hug and planted a kiss right below her ear before whispering, "I love you, you know?" She sighed and brought her arms up around his neck, returning his embrace. "I love you too. But, if you ever do anything like this again..." she trailed off, leaving the threat implied. They smiled and then kissed sweetly, both thinking that in all likelihood she wouldn't be making him sleep on the couch tonight. The End Author's Note: Big thanks go to Cathey for beta reading this for me!