88: Secrets, Lies and Rumors (RP for diagnosis_truth)

[followedhimdown]

FBI National Academy
Quantico, VirginiaStark had to swallow a little bit as she walked down the hall toward Scully's office. Not because she was nervous about seeing her former colleague, not at all. She had made no secret of her admiration for the woman both professionally and personally (at least when they had actually gotten to know each other

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[diagnosis_truth]

"You're neither of the above." Another thirteen seconds passed before Scully lifted her eyes from the file spread before her. Her fingers caught the edge of a glossy photograph and she nudged it beneath the pile of papers to obscure it further from view. Best to leave some secrets hidden now, if not forever. Safer, for her heart and the consistent pressing of questions soon to come.

But when she did look up, the expression on her face was even, friendly and relaxed. "Come in, sit down, and take a deep breath. In that order."

[followedhimdown]

"Do I look that ner...oh, well, you're a doctor, of course you know." Stark chuckled, shaking her head as she stepped into the office, closing the door behind her. Never mind that the two women had worked together for two years and as such, knew each other fairly well.

She settled in the chair and folded her hands in her lap, trying to figure out how to phrase this, before she just spit it out. "I have a favor to ask you, if you're not busy tomorrow."

[diagnosis_truth]

Tomorrow, Scully was off the clock. And the first day she had found herself to be off the clock did have plans etched into it, but her eyes didn't flicker and betray any of this. Whatever it was Stark had come to ask her was evidently important, because Stark wasn't the type to ask for favors in the least. Scully couldn't remember her asking for money for a cup of coffee in the time they had been working in the same circumstances.

"The answer's most likely yes," she said, "so ask away."

[followedhimdown]

Stark had not been an English major in college. She had a degree in Administration of Justice, with a minor in Business Law. She was reasonably well-spoken, but when it came to admitting to being romantically involved with her partner? Something very highly illegal? She didn't know how to say it. Yet if anyone could understand, it was Scully.

"I'm getting married tomorrow," she said. "Just a quick civil ceremony, before I leave on vacation, and we need someone to witness the whole thing. John and I thought of you." As if she had to explain who she was talking about. "We're going to have a real wedding when we get back, whenever we can manage it, if I don't get fired, and I'd like you to be in the wedding then but we sort of want to at least make it official before we leave. Does that...make any sense?"

[diagnosis_truth]

It was illegal. So illegal, in fact, that Scully had done the same thing herself, though she and Mulder had never exchanged marriage vows and that was more due to character flaws in both of them than any kind of circumstance. All the reasons to do so were there, they just hadn't, and she had never given it much thought until now. But it wasn't hard to see that Stark was nervous, she was afraid about what this could mean and as much as Scully wanted to be able to tell her it would be all right..she couldn't.

"I'd love to."

And it was true, she would. Scully had been partners with John Doggett for a time, and he'd saved her life. They were friends, too, and he deserved to be happy. "It makes perfect sense. Because it's the right thing to do, when you love someone that much. And I'd be happy to be there."

[followedhimdown]

"Thank you." Stark smiled back at her running a hand through her hair. "We're just doing a small little thing, it's at the county courthouse in Arlington at two o'clock. We want to get it over with before we leave the country."

It was obvious that she was still trying to process the entire sea change. Stark was a woman who put down her roots and kept them there, and in her mind he was always her partner and her best friend. This was not supposed to happen. And now that it had, it was tilting her entire world which she didn't like very much even if she liked what it did mean.

"You know, if I never told you," she said after a moment, "I do appreciate the time that we got to work together. I learned a lot from you and it means a lot to me that you're going to be there. You saw us through a lot of stuff."

[diagnosis_truth]

"The both of you mean a lot to me, too." Scully had a hard time thinking back to when she hadn't known the people that she did now, didn't have the presences around her of people who cared for her. This had never just been a job, it couldn't be. Not if it was going to result in their staying alive.

"And I know you're afraid. I can tell. But it's okay to be afraid. Just do yourself one favor, and don't hide that fear from him. From Agent Doggett. Because if I've learned one thing about being in relationships that I never thought I'd be in, it's that hiding things doesn't mean you're dealing with them on your own. It just means it's harder."

[followedhimdown]

"It's all very strange to me," Stark confessed leaning forward a little as she thought. "I haven't even been in a relationship, really, in eleven years. Excepting a sort of casual thing with a friend of mine and we just hung out more than anything else. And none of my relationships even got to the point of my moving in with someone. Now here I am, we've been together two weeks, and we're getting married. Part of me is like, what am I doing?"

A nervous laugh and she just shook her head. "It's so unlike me. It's so unlike him. But we talked about it and he said something -- it's not that much different from who we are anyway. We already spend so much time together. We already know each other well enough. So it really doesn't change anything at all."

[diagnosis_truth]

"But that's where you're wrong." Scully's smile was patient and tolerant, and warm at the edges where the cold weather had tried to chap the corners bitterly. "It's going to change everything, Stark. The things that you think won't change, will. You're going to have to deal with someone putting the cap on the toothpaste differently and their hogging all of the covers at night, not to mention leaving the television blaring and the lights on because that's what they're used to." She paused to smile again and for a second her eyes were closed and she was someplace far away where those things weren't problems, they were lovely little discoveries.

"But change isn't bad. It isn't always, and in this case, it's worth everything. For changes like those, like these, it's worth being a little scared because the two of you will face them together."

[followedhimdown]

"Well I'm going to find out. Though this is John I'm talking about, he's as steady as they come. I don't think I'll be seeing much more that I haven't already." She chuckled. "We were talking the other day about how sometimes I drag him shopping with me and it was like, you know, we are practically attached to each other in every aspect of our lives already. We always lean on each other, at least heaven knows I do."

A slow breath escaped her then. "It just remains to be seen what punishment will be handed down now that Assistant Director McCall, and I presume the Deputy Director, know what's going on between us. Not like I haven't been smacked upside the head before, right?" she said with a laugh. That was how she'd gotten assigned to the X-Files in the first place, by being demoted.

[diagnosis_truth]

Now Scully's spine straightened another marginal bit and she looked at Stark with newfound curiosity and freshly born concern. "Have you told them?" she asked in a quiet voice that belonged for confidential discussions and medical diagnoses. "Anyone, besides me?"

[followedhimdown]

"I had to tell my boss the other morning. Didn't feel we had a choice, with the two of us getting married." She swallowed, thinking back on that conversation with McCall and all its weird implications. "He told us to take the week off and keep our mouths shut. Which is what I've been doing. We leave for Paris the day after tomorrow and you're the first person I've told other than him."

[diagnosis_truth]

"If you were fired, you would have found out immediately." No one in the federal offices wasted any time with termination, it was a line that was easy to cross and impossible to step back over. But that didn't mean what would happen next would be easy. "I know that the bureau was never formally aware of what happened between me and Mulder. Our supervisor only knew because he saw it before we did. He knew we were in love before either of us admitted it."

[followedhimdown]

"McCall's a fairly recent hire. Transferred from Miami to take over from A.D. Exstead, my old boss. Which I wish she were still here, now, but McCall's not a bad guy. Chatty." Stark chuckled and shook her head. "I figured we had to say it. Neither of us was ready to deny a marriage. A relationship, yes, but having to hide a wedding ring every day just seemed like living a very long lie."

[diagnosis_truth]

Scully's lips moved into a slow smile. "It's the right choice," she said, "it really is. You did the right thing. But I know it isn't going to be easy, and so do you." Her fingers smoothed against the edge of her skirt and again she thought of Mulder, his liquid hazel eyes and a whole universe of possibilities.

"You'll be together now. And it'll be all right."

[followedhimdown]

"Everything's going to work out in the end. It always does, when I stick by him." Stark couldn't help but smile at that; how many times had she been scared out of her mind or in a situation that she couldn't quite handle, and her partner had been there to give her that boost to make it through? Now she was seeing what everyone else was seeing: how much she talked about him, how she couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of facing another day with him even when it involved aliens, super-soldiers or something that might try to kill her. And had.

She paused then, shaking her head. "But enough about me. How are you doing?"