(Untitled)

[thedeviloutside]

Alone. That was how others - her mother, her mother's friends, extended family - thought of her. Unmarried, no children, few friends; it was a lonely life.

Loneliness is a choice. Her words

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[iwillresume]

Robbie had left the children with Jenny while he brought an enormous pile of laundry to the compound for washing. Two children, especially two children who were in constant motion, went through a frightening amount of clean clothes on a daily basis, and the laundry pile was staggering. Having filled the machines there was little else to do but wait for them to run, so Robbie went upstairs to the kitchen for coffee. "Good morning," he said politely to the woman working nearby, as he helped himself to a cup.

[thedeviloutside]

"Hello," Scully returned, her voice louder than she had either intended or expected, which only spoke to how ruffled she was at no longer being alone in the room. To a woman who put so much effort into appearing professional, arriving on the island in the state she had could be nothing short of mortifying, and it would be a lie to say that embarrassment had had no part in Scully's commitment to avoiding the island's citizens at large.

But there was nothing familiar about this man, and that put a small smile on her face. Thank God for small favors.

[iwillresume]

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Robbie said. "I suppose no one's really expected to be up and about this hour, but sometimes it's the only time to get things done."

[thedeviloutside]

"Not at all," said Scully, waving a hand in the air. "I can hardly complain; I've had the kitchen to myself long enough. Though, I have to admit, I didn't think to account for early risers. Insomniacs, sure, but isn't sleeping in one of the few benefits of this forced vacation?"

[abbysciuto]

There were more than a few people moving around the the compound late at night, but most of them didn't tend to be trying to stay awake. Either they were awake and were staying that way or were trying to be asleep and didn't need any caffeine. It meant that the coffee pot was usually all hers, and she made the coffee accordingly. Tonight she was finishing up one last set of experiment notes before she went to bed, but sadly her coffee ran out before the things to be said did, so off she went for more of it. Agent Scully or her doppelganger was in the kitchen and Abby smiled at both the mess and the fresh cup of coffee.

"I hope you don't mind the coffee being able to sit up and salute," she said in greeting. "I make it kinda strong when no one's around to scold me about unhealthy caffeine levels."

[thedeviloutside]

"Not at all," replied Scully, tasting a small, satisfying sip from her own mug. "Caffeine is one indulgence I'm in no position to reprimand," she admitted with a small laugh.

[abbysciuto]

"Good to know. Scientist, doctor, LEO, grad student, or extreme gamer?" she asked, listing the general peoplegroups that tended to be big fans of a caffeinestream running through their veins.

Possibly Agent Scully-clone was none of the above, but it was likely that she was at least one. Abby was at least one, after all. She was three.

[thedeviloutside]

"The first three," Scully admitted with a small smile. As uncomfortable as it made her when others were able to deduce at a glance such facts about her, she had enough colleagues with verifiable caffeine addictions to appreciate the truth of the assessment. "It's been a few years now since the fourth applied to me and I can say with near certainty that the fifth never will."

[polly_okeefe]

At the end of a long day, I popped into a kitchen for a tea before heading home. That's when I saw the woman, and the mess she'd left on the table. A part of me felt a little annoyed about that -- after all, when I first arrived on the Island, I'd made it my job to clean after people like that, and it was surprising how that rankled. But then I saw her starting to clean up, and I realized I'd misjudged her.

"Hello," I said, as I filled the kettle and put it on to boil. "I haven't seen you around. Are you new here?"

[thedeviloutside]

"Yes, I am," replied Scully, still shuffling her notes together. The result was a pile that was no neater than before but significantly compacted. Progress.

"I arrived in April," she added, for politeness' sake. A part of her found it unsettling that she had been found out so easily, though she could hardly blame the other woman. As far as giving herself away, Scully would have to admit that she had been lazy about disguising certain truths about herself since arriving, having had much larger issues to deal with at the time.

[polly_okeefe]

"Hmm," I said, giving her a sympathetic smile. She was handling it well. I remembered being a bit of a basket-case myself at this time. And, one month into my stay here had been my first meeting with my mother. "I've been here a year and a half. Are you settling in okay? Need any help with anything?"

[thedeviloutside]

Scully could not hide her shock (there was a substantial amount of dread as well) at hearing how long this woman had been on the island. The first few weeks had been difficult enough, and she was barely managing to keep it together even now. To think that she would be in this situation for a year was a possibility she had no desire to consider.

"No, thank you, I think I'm all set at the moment," she replied with a smile for politeness' sake. "A year and a half, is that... standard for Tabula Rasa? I haven't even thought to ask how long I might be here."

[o_heart]

Hotch had never slept long hours, and the island is no exception; he's been reading in the rec-room for a couple of hours, and now it's time to rinse out his coffee-cup and head home. Pepper's staying at his, but she knows enough to let herself in and make herself comfortable. Martha's used her being there.

He registers the mess on the table; his own desk in Quantico had it's moments of looking a little like that.

"Busy?"

[thedeviloutside]

"Not lately," Scully sighs, immediately regretting her tone of voice. She sounds far more annoyed than she should, and that kind of thing is easy to misinterpret, although she knows that none of it was directed at the man. Even a conscious effort to busy herself proves unsuccessful on this island, and she is not the kind of woman who benefits from free time. Not in this state.

"I'm sorry," she adds at once, followed by a deep breath, two fingers rubbing at her temples. "That was unfair."

[o_heart]

He can see that her frustration isn't directed at him; that much is clear from her body-language and expression, so he thinks nothing of it, going about making his coffee instead.

"Think nothing of it," he says, glancing back at her. "We all have those days. Everyone alive has those days."

[thedeviloutside]

The difference, Scully thought, was that most people alive had those days in the comfort of their own homes. Their own cities and countries, too, for that matter. But life on Tabula Rasa for Scully seemed to be comprised solely of those days, in unrelenting succession and with little chance of letting up.

"Are you working late?" She asked over the steam of her coffee mug. He looked like the type to work hard, and if there was any job on the island that demanded overtime dedication, she was interested in knowing what job that was.

[nostoppinglife]

"Dinnae rush off on my account," Moira said, more teasing than with any genuine belief the woman might be doing that. "I promise I'll nae be loud enae t' distract from yuir work."

It was, in a way, a relief to see someone else hard at work in the middle of the night, whatever it may have been she was working on. Moira herself had a bundle of papers tucked in the notebook she carried in her bag, a pen always at the ready. She'd always kept long hours; being here made nothing different.

[thedeviloutside]

"Oh, no, make as much noise as you like, please," Scully insisted with a small laugh. Anything was a welcome distraction from her own growing frustration.

"I was just... finishing up here," she added, though she couldn't have convinced even herself. Though Scully had reached a roadblock, her work here was far from done. It would be while before it was, she knew.

[nostoppinglife]

It didn't sound that way, but Moira wasn't one to be confrontational without reason. There was nothing to achieve that way, though her curiosity was decidedly piqued. "Island work?" she asked. "Or somethin' ye brought with ye when ye came here?"

Somehow she'd found the both had tied together for her. Her friends might have been mutant no longer, but that was a mystery in and of itself.