Schisms (3/?)
by Singing Violin (Pearl on Ephemeral/Gossamer)

Email: perlner@mit.edu
Rating: G
Category: X-Files VHSRA
Spoilers: Alpha, William, rumors about the revival

Summary: What could possibly cause these two to break up? A series
of short stories explaining the reported status of Mulder and
Scully's relationship upon the revival miniseries.

Disclaimer: The X-Files characters and universe are not mine.
Archiving: Anywhere, as long as you let me know. I put stuff on AO3,
ffnet, and Ephemeral/Gossamer.


Chapter 3: Beta

Dana Scully lounged on the couch, mindlessly stroking the hair of her
companion, who lay cuddled up beside her. She murmured
incomprehensibly at him, and he rubbed his head against her
affectionately.

Then, Fox Mulder shuffled into the room, still in his pajamas, his
eyes red and puffy, a crumpled-up tissue in his hand.

When Mulder loudly blew his nose, Scully looked up. "Oh, Mulder,"
she exclaimed sympathetically. Extricating herself from the warm
body on her lap, she rose and walked towards him.

He shied away. "Stay away from me; you'll make it worse."

She sighed. "Have you been taking the medication I prescribed for
you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It makes me feel all fuzzy. Hard to think. Hard
to work." With that, he sneezed into the balled-up tissue, but it
was full and couldn't contain the result, and afterwards he held
his gooey hand out in front of him with a disgusted, stricken look
on his face. "Ugh."

She reached over and grabbed a fresh tissue from the box on the
coffee table, careful to only touch the corner, then handed it to
him gingerly. He grabbed it and began wiping the snot off his hand.

"We can try a different one," she suggested. "There's got to be
something that'll work for you."

Sniffling, he looked down and met her eyes. "Yeah, I'm getting out
of here."

"What?!" she responded, surprised. "Where will you go?"

"Anywhere but here, Scully!" he replied, coughing slightly. "I can't
take this anymore!"

"You know," she pointed out, walking back towards the couch,
then gently moving her cuddly friend over and settling back down
beside him, "you never had a problem with Karin Berquist. And
she was around dogs all the time."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at, Scully. You're the doctor;
you can probably tell me what's different now. All I know is that
I want to be able to breathe through my nose again, and I can't
do that here. Not as long as it is here."

"He," Scully argued. "And if you're asking me to give up Owen,
I can't do that. And not just because I promised Agent Doggett
I'd take care of him. I've grown quite fond of him, and he doesn't
argue with me when I want to snuggle. Plus, after Queequeg
and...well, you know, I can't abandon someone else I'm
supposed to be caring for."

"So you're choosing the dog over me," he summarized, not quite
believing his own words. "After all we've been through, you'd
rather be with him?!"

She didn't respond verbally, but gave him a look that told him
all he needed to know.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his coat. "All right then, Scully.
I'll see you around."

Now she looked askance at him. "Don't you think you ought to
get dressed first?"

"No," he told her. "I need to burn all my clothes anyway; I'm
buying everything new, free of dander."

"Suit yourself," she said, patting Owen's back, "but don't burn
them. Just leave them. Maybe some of them will fit this guy,
and the rest, we'll find a use for."

Screwing up his face for one last meaningful look at his
erstwhile lover, Fox Mulder walked out the door.