Title: Last Night in Arcadia
Author: Sara B.
E-mail: sabo727@tampabay.rr.com
URL: http://sabo727.tripod.com/
Rating: Good for everyone
Category: Mulder angst, UST (tiny)
Spoilers: The End, FTF, The Beginning, One Son, Arcadia
Feedback:  You want to do it, I know you do.  Come on it is so easy!

Summary:  Mulder reflects on the cause of the rift between Scully and he the
night before they return to DC from the case in Arcadia.

Archive: I would be honored, just let me know.

Disclaimer:  The recognized characters are used Without Prejudice and are
the property of C. Carter, Fox and the wonderful actors who breathed life
into written words, most notably G. Anderson and D. Duchovny who were able
to make us believe in the improbable.  No Infringements of these copyrights
are intended, and are used here without permission.  The story and before
unknown characters belongs to me.

Gratitude: To Kim Knight, you are the best, thank you.  To my Dennis, enough
said.  To CC and Company, who created the X-Files.  Lastly, but my no means
least, to the readers, you make this hobby of mine have meaning. 

Author's Notes:  There was a message on the Haven about someone's dislike of
Arcadia and this is the result.

 

Last Night in Arcadia
Sara B. 07/06


They were heading home the next day.  The monster had been vanquished.  The
rented furniture and van had all been returned.  Rob and Laura Petrie had
been relegated back to Nick at Nite, where they belonged, and Mulder and
Scully were ensconced in connecting rooms at the Radisson.  

All was right with the world; or not.

Mulder stared at the ring he still wore trying to make sense of it all.  No,
not the case, but why he and Scully were so far apart emotionally.  

He wasn't stupid he knew where the roots of this distance started; where it
had gone to hell.  It wasn't the night El Rico burned, no, this chasm had
its beginnings with the events that led up to another fire.  

A little boy vanished, his, no, their office burned and his ex-lover was
lying in the hospital fighting for her life from a bullet he later found out
was meant for Scully.  Skinner had changed the shift schedules at the last
minute.  Scully was supposed to have been with Gibson that night.  The
thought was sobering.

They were in his apartment when Skinner's second call came in.  This time he
was the one to answer.  It was followed by a mad dash to the Hoover.  Mulder
had a vague recollection of Scully holding him and him pushing her away.
He'd left her there and went to the hospital where he'd sat next to Diana's
bed holding her hand and watching the monitors.  

The next morning he found out, from one of the nurses, that Scully had
followed him there.  She never entered the room but watched from the
hallway.  The nurse said she left two hours later.  Scully never offered and
he never asked but he'd always wondered what she saw in that hospital room
that night.  It seemed to be the pivotal point when things between them
changed.

He didn't see Scully for three days, not until the meeting with Skinner to
discuss their reassignment; Domestic terrorism.  Scully sat so still and
stiff, her eyes never wavered from the window behind Skinner and for the
first time in years Mulder wasn't sure where Dana Scully stood.

Three weeks later he nearly kissed her.  They'd been a hairs breath away
when she'd been stung and he nearly lost her again.  She'd been infected and
taken again but he located her and brought her back and they never spoke of
the near kiss again.

She didn't support his position on what happened in Antarctica so he turned
from her.  He used her science against her.  He'd asked if she were asking
him to make a choice and he could see she would have been less shocked if
he'd slapped her.   

Scully turned it around and handed him the proof he'd needed.  He should
have trusted Scully.  Her original tests had not provided her with the
results they'd expected so he thought she'd dropped it.  He should have
known that Scully would not be satisfied; that she would continue to look
into the evidence for him.  

If he were to point to the moment Scully lost her confidence in them, in her
place with him, it was that one horrible moment defined by one carelessly
cruel question.

Carelessly cruel, that could describe so many moments in his dealings with
Scully's feelings; too many moments.  Too many things needed to be said,
never were and too many things that shouldn't have been said were. 

Mulder knew he would look at the roller coaster ride of the last year as
some of the bleakest times of his less than shining life.  During the last
year he'd turned his back on the one person who chose to stay with him.
Scully stayed, not because she had to but because she wanted to.  

He'd made Scully doubt her importance in his life and how much she means to
him.  He'd given her reason to believe he preferred someone from his past
and had done nothing to dispel that erroneous idea.  

Mulder played with the ring on his finger.  He knew he should take it off
but then the spell would be truly broken and he'd be plain old Fox Mulder,
single man.  He wanted the illusion to last a while longer.

The knock on the connecting door jolted him from his dark thoughts.  

Scully walked in carrying the room service menu.  "I was getting hungry so I
thought I'd order in.  Care to join me?"  She waved the menu.  The sparkle
of gold and diamonds from the third finger of her left hand caught Mulder's
eyes and he smiled. 


End