Kiss and Make Up Day by Lolabeegood E-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com Distribution: Archive freely with my name attached Rating: PG Categories: S, R Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance Spoilers: Up to and including IWTB, but this takes place before it. Summary: A day in the life of Fox Mulder while living in long-term isolation. Author's Notes: I do not own the characters. I do not make any money from this. Enjoy! ************************************* Mulder's feet pounded the cold ground as he ran through the woods that were behind their house. The day was crisp and cold and his breath almost froze in the air with each exhale. He was dressed warmly enough that he didn't feel the cold, just the biting wind the cut across his features every so often. She had been gone for 5 days and he wasn't sure if she was coming back. It had been the first big fight about their relationship. Over the years they had fought about cases, expenses, and more recently, household duties, but this was the first time they had fought about each other. It was the first time they'd both said things they would regret, and she had left. They had been living in isolation for over 2 years now and Scully had returned to work as a doctor almost 10 months ago. Mulder knew she was filled with excitement about entering the workforce, he knew doctors kept long hours, he knew the life of a surgeon was both unpredictable and regimented. What he didn't know was that he would lose Scully to her job. The first few months he wrote off as growing pains, a time of adjustment. The next few months he tried to change their pattern, tried to make her see that he was still present in her life. The last few months he had gotten bitter about his lack of a place anymore, a place that she had stopped even acknowledging. She would work over 60 hours a week at that hospital and then come home to do more research and prepare more presentation and committee notes. The schedule she kept seemed insane and she seemed to relish in the demands placed on her. Mulder was forgotten and left to his own devices, which, after 10 months had grown tiresome. He was bored with himself. Before the job they had watched a lot of TV and old movies, they had debated world issues and ethical dilemmas, they had read aloud to each other, they had spent whole days in bed together. He had been happy, and she had seemed happy, until the job appeared to make her more content. Then he started go a day or two without seeing her because she would stay at the hospital. The calls home became less frequent, and her mood became surly whenever she was around. She buried herself in medical journals on her days off and barely came out of her office for food. They hardly spoke, and she didn't seem to notice that he was unhappy. Their fight occurred after she came home form another 2-day stay at the hospital and was pissed off the house was a mess. As they both cleaned up, she mentioned that she was going away for a 12 day conference in Dallas in 3 weeks and that she would need to stay at the hospital more frequently in the coming weeks to prepare for it. That was when he threw a wet dish he had been washing against the wall, missing her by a couple of feet. He hadn't intended to hit her, and she knew that, but the effect was still the same. An argument ensued. He likened her behaviour to emotional abuse and she said he was acting like a spoiled child. He said she was on a power trip and using his position as a trapped man to her advantage. She said that she hated the fact that they had to live this way because of him. He slammed his fist into a wall and she screamed that he might as well just hit her because she knew that's what he wanted to do. She packed a bag and left 20 minutes later and he hadn't seen her for 5 days. He rounded the corner and spotted her car in the driveway. He stopped dead in his tracks questioning whether he should run another 5 miles just to avoid her, or go in and see her pack her things to leave. His heart ached when he thought of the last possibility and his resolve to run, washed away. He pinched his waist to expel a cramp and slowly walked toward the back steps. The creak on the second step announced his arrival as she turned to look at him out the kitchen window. She looked tired and slightly unkempt, not her usual self. Mulder admonished himself internally for being happy she had not been doing well these last few days either. "Hi," he ventured to say as he walked through the back door and quickly shut it to keep out the cold. "You were running in this cold?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. He nodded and took off his bandana and tossed it on the kitchen table. He wanted to ask if she was back to stay or back to pick up her things, but he couldn't bring himself to present the two possibilities to her on a platter. He looked at her and noticed her eyes were shut and her arms were wrapped tightly around her torso. "Mulder, I'm so sorry," she said plainly as she opened her eyes to look at him. He waited for her to finish the statement with 'this is not going to work out', or 'I can't live like this', or 'I'm not here to stay'. When none of them came out of her mouth, he was taken slightly aback. It took him almost a minute to realize she was not going to add to the first statement. "I'm sorry too," he said honestly as he shifted his feet. "I forgot about you," she said as her eyes remained focused on him and her body stayed rigid. "I was so caught up in..." "You were," he said truthfully. "And I was trying to get you to see, but you..." "Didn't," she finished for him. "My job was so exciting. For the first time in years, I felt like I was doing something worthwhile, something important." "I know you did," he crossed over to her and stood closer. "And I hated myself for being jealous of your life. I really hated myself for that, Scully." "I know," she said as she touched his sweaty chest and looked down at their feet. "I knew that too and I did nothing to make it any better. I stayed away; I buried myself in my journals to avoid it all." "I know," he sighed. "Mulder, how do you put up with me?" she asked as her eyes lifted toward his. "I'm just a little crazy in love, I guess." He smiled down at her. She smiled at his response. "But Scully, things have to change," he started as he placed his hands on her waist. "You can't keep those hours and then still come home and bury yourself in journals and articles and research. You're the only person I have." He then looked at his feet, ashamed of his neediness. Ashamed of his pitiful situation; a situation she had joined him in. "Mulder," she said as she reached for his chin and made him look at her. "Don't ever be sorry for what you are. You tried to make me see, and I just ignored you. I was wrong, I really was." "I hate this," he admitted to her watery eyes. "I want you to thrive, I really do, I just want you to myself when you come home. Which is self..." She interrupted him with a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her towards his sweaty form. She murmured into his mouth and he breathed in her beautiful scent which had been missing from his life for five horrible days. She grasped the back of his head and deepened the kiss as they wobbled against the countertop together. "I took myself out of a couple of studies," she said to him breathless. "I'm only going for 3 days of the conference and I got rid of a shift this week. I'll hand off one each week to one of the other doctors." "Scully, you don't have to..." "Shhh," she said silencing him with a finger to his lips. "I can have my career but I don't need to work 60+ hours a week to prove I'm a good doctor." "But, maybe we could..." "Mulder, I missed you." She added honestly. "As much as I ran from you, I missed you at the same time. I need time with you for my own sanity, as well as yours." "I didn't know my sanity was in question," he snickered. "When you threw the plate, I started to question it." "Sorry about that," he shook his head, embarrassed. "It got my attention," she said shyly. They stood in awkward silence for a minute. The emotional bruises of him being abandoned, and her leaving him were still fresh. They loved each other, but they had still hurt each other with the words that had been hurled across this very kitchen. "Why don't you have a shower," she said patting his chest. "Why don't you join me?" he couldn't help but leer, despite the situation. "Why don't you go have a shower, and maybe I'll surprise you," she said coyly. "You know Scully, it's not a surprise if..." He was interrupted with a smack on the ass. "Mulder, just go!" she said forcefully. "You're not back 20 minutes and you're already ordering me around," he said as he turned and exited the kitchen. "You better get used to it," she called after him. "I'm going to be around a lot more." He chuckled to himself as he walked up the stairs. Scully was definitely back. ****************************************** The end.