TITLE: 13 Cigarettes AUTHOR: Kimberly M. Thomas E-MAIL ADDRESS: kthomas@qnet.com DISTRIBUTION: Gossamer, Xemplary OK. Others are fine, but please tell me where it's going. SPOILER WARNING: Brand X RATING: PG CLASSIFICATION: V KEYWORDS: none SUMMARY: A post-Brand X conversation about Mulder's new vice. Scully walked into the office she shared with Mulder, who was sitting in front of the computer, staring intently at the screen. "Good thing we have a block on the porn sites here," Scully thought. "An x-file is the only other thing that he could be that engrossed in." He swiveled around in his chair, acknowledging her presence. "Morning, Scully," he greeted her. His jacket was draped on the back of his chair, and he had a pack of Morleys in his shirt pocket. She could even read the writing through his white dress shirt. "Is he even *trying* to be sneaky?" she wondered. "Why doesn't he just roll them up into his sleeve, like some old drag racer, for crying out loud?" She momentarily had a rather amusing mental image of Mulder drag- racing one of their rental cars. "Mulder...what is that?" she asked, pointing to his pocket, although she knew damn well what it was. "That? Oh, that's just..." he covered it with his hand, as though that would make it miraculously vanish. "Just...a pack of cigarettes, which I thought you had thrown away." "Yeah, well..." "Well? You *know* those are bad for you." Stating the obvious. Of course he knew that. However, as a doctor, Scully felt bound to remind him of that fact. Not that it would do any good. He considered saying something, but changed his mind and turned back to face the monitor. There, he thought. End of discussion. Wrong. After a moment, Scully spoke, "Well, it looks like you and your cigarette-smoking friend are starting to have quite a bit in common." Mulder's face crinkled up a bit in an expression that resembled disgust, and he looked thoughtful for a moment. He removed the pack from his pocket and set it on the desk beside him, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing him throw the cigarettes into the trash again. He said nothing. End of discussion.