Salvation at a Cost (2/3) by ElizabethAnn Email: elizabethannfanfic@yahoo.com Rating: PG Timeline: post-The Truth Author's Note: They're in VA now, but Scully hasn't gone to work at the hospital yet. Looks like there will be a chapter three. ~ ~ ~ Chapter Two "Are you sure you weren't followed?" Mulder asked, pulling the gate open for her and shouting through her car window. It didn't matter that they'd been here several months without any sign of trouble. Mulder was convinced that someone would follow her home. Every time she left the house, she knew he would be at home pacing. Being penned up with him in the house wasn't doing much for her psyche though; so, she occasionally headed into civilization to run errands or have lunch with her mother. They were moments when she could pretend that she was normal. "No one," she assured him as she shut the car door. If she didn't reassure him, he'd worry about it all evening. And he wasn't sleeping all that well: his nightmares had returned. He stood, hands in his pockets, slightly blocking her way back into the house. "It's alright, Mulder. No one for miles. My mom says hello," she said, reaching up to touch his cheek and slip past him. "You probably shouldn't talk about me to her," he said, following her into the house. She sighed. "Sorry, but she'd like to know you're okay. It's ridiculous to pretend like you don't exist." "It would be better that she didn't know anything for her own safety. Someone could be listening or " "Mulder," Scully said in a tone of warning. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, filling it with water from the tap. She could see him out of the corner of her eye leaning against the doorframe, hands still in his pockets. "No more, okay?" "Okay," he said grudgingly. "Anyway I checked my P.O. Box and watered the plants in the apartment." She'd rented a furnished apartment and taken out a P.O. Box when they'd returned to Virginia. It wasn't much of a ruse, but it was something. "They're not dead yet?" he asked blandly. "Hanging on. And good news: Netflix sent you another movie," she said, jerking her head in the direction of the purse she had dumped on the kitchen table. Mulder stepped forward and reached for her purse, fishing out the DVD slowly and pausing over the purse for several seconds. "I'll watch it with you, if you want," she said between sips of water. He nodded and turned on his heel. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ... "Mulder," Scully said shaking his shoulder. "Mmm?" he said, his eyes popping open. "It's two in the morning. Come to bed." He sat up groggily, looking around to see a living room that he still wasn't used to. He must have fallen asleep watching TV, but the set was off. Scully must have turned it off before shaking him from his sleep. He scrubbed his face with his hands. "Come to bed," she repeated. He followed her dutifully into the bedroom, although he didn't think he could fall back asleep, now that he was awake. He wondered, as he watched her slip into the bed in her green satin pajamas, when she was planning on telling him. He didn't particularly want to be on her time schedule for revelation. Scully could be painfully slow about confessing things. And it still hurt, after all these years that she could be closed off with him. She was all he had left, after all. "You could have told me," he said, as she moved to turn on her side. She paused and looked back up at him, her brows knit. "Are you still asleep, Mulder?" she asked. He sat on the bed and shook his head. "Wide awake." "Well, you're not making any sense." "I saw it in your purse," he explained. Her face immediately showed the tension that must have flooded her system. "I wasn't snooping just getting the DVD. Or were you intending that I find out that way?" Her mouth opened and closed, but she said nothing. "You could have told me," he said more firmly, pulling back the sheets in a quick motion and sliding underneath. She reached out to him, lightly touching his shoulder. "Mulder, it's what we talked about. I said I needed to get back to work." Her voice shook slightly. "I know. So, why didn't you tell me?" "I didn't think I wasn't sure how you'd take it. You haven't seemed at ease." "Are you kidding? The country air has done wonders for me," he replied sarcastically. He spent his days watching and waiting. He needed a hobby. Too bad his old hobbies weren't Scully-friendly. "Mulder, I know it isn't fair." Obviously. She had options. He had none. This certainly wasn't the way he had ever imagined living. Hiding. Useless. In the middle of nowhere, USA. Of course, he hadn't imagined being with Dana Scully either and he was. That was why he had to make the effort-- for her. "So, tell me about this place. Our Lady of Sorrows--sounds like a trippy place." "It's a Catholic hospital kind of run down. Out of the way. I wouldn't attract any attention there, but I think I could be of help to them. They'd be happy to have me." "For ?" "Pediatrics." That was surprising enough to cause him to take note. He turned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. "Really?" "There is an opening." "That's what you want to do? Pediatrics?" There was a pregnant pause before she answered: "I think so." He wouldn't have imagined that she would want to be surrounded daily by the reminder that she no longer had a child. They never spoke about William. The topic hung between them unspoken along with several other weighty issues that he assumed she no longer wanted to visit in conversation. So, he thought about William in moments of silence and he visited him in his dreams. "I've been looking around, and I really think this is my best option." "Okay." "Okay?" Her tone registered her surprise. He imagined that she had been expecting an argument or at least more resistance than she was meeting with. But, he knew it wouldn't be of any use and would only drive them apart. "Yeah. You use your best judgment. If you think this is the place, this is the place. There isn't any reason to have you holed up like a hostage here with me. You *should* be back at work." Scully scanned his eyes in the darkness for something. "Are you going to be pacing around every day while I'm gone?" she asked quietly. "Am I wearing grooves in the floor?" he asked with a half smile. "I worry " she said, trailing off. About his sanity? That perhaps they weren't as safe as she professed they were? That he wouldn't be there when she came home one day? "Don't. I'll do the worrying." "That's what I'm afraid of." He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. "I'll get a hobby." "Oh yeah?" she said into his chest. "Airplane modeling." "Mmm " "We've got all the ventilation a man could want."