Title: The Perfect Life
Author: Polly - polly122456@yahoo.com

Classification: 310 Words, Scully POV, MSR, Post Episode
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Chimera
Disclaimer: "The X-Files" and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and FOX. No copyright infringement is intended
Archive: If you want it, it's yours
Feedback: Always welcome and greatly appreciated

Summary: Finding the perfect life

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I hear the front door close, keys jangle as they're tossed on the table. He's home. I breathe a sigh of relief and wait. I don't need to call out. He'll find me; he's a trained investigator.

Speak of the devil. Rumpled suit. Heavy stubble. He looks tired.

"Hey," he says, lightly touching my shoulder. "Still washing off the seamy underbelly?"

"Four showers, three baths since I left that stakeout," I reply. "I almost feel clean."

"Clean," he whispers. "I wish I felt that way."

I scoot forward in the tub and beckon to him. "Come on in, the water's fine."

His mouth curves into a reluctant smile. "Better not. I haven't had much luck with bathtubs lately."

"When you fall off a bike, you get right back on," I counter. "Same rule applies to bathtubs."

He chuckles softly and hesitates, but soon sheds his clothing and eases his bruised and battered body into the tub. His arms envelop me, clinging to me as a drowning man might a life preserver. He rests his chin on my shoulder and the words come tumbling out, the abridged version of his Vermont X-File; the housewife whose obsession with the "perfect life" literally created a monster.

His purging complete, he pulls me into a tighter embrace; cleansed on the inside, satisfied to let hot water and bath oils take care of the rest.

I should tell Mulder that every little girl dreams of the fairy tale version of the "perfect life": adoring husband, comfortable home, beautiful children. I had a dream like that too, once upon a time. But Ellen Adderly never realized that you rarely get the neatly packaged fairy tale; something as fickle as perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

I'll tell him later. Right now, until the water cools, I'm content in my lover's arms. Peaceful. Clean. Perfect.

The End

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