Below the Surface [CSI/The X-Files; Grissom/Catherine, Mulder/Scully]
TITLE: Below the Surface
CHAPTER 14: Evading Truths
FANDOM(S): CSI, The X-Files
PAIRING(S): Mulder/Scully, Grissom/Catherine
SPOILERS: [CSI: Fourth season]; [X-Files: Seventh season]
RATING: R (for language, violence, etc.)
SUMMARY: Perhaps now that she was lying in a hospital bed, drained of the strength she normally had for arguing with him, he'd be able to rectify what he'd done.
*****
"Grissom!"
"Ouch! Don't hit me, Cath! I told you it would be wise to take you in!"
Catherine glared, jerking her arm out of Grissom's grasp as he practically dragged her down the halls of Desert Palm hospital. "I told you on the boat that I was fine. It's nothing a little Advil can't cure," she protested. She threw him a look. "It certainly isn't anything that warrants a trip to the emergency room."
Grissom merely smiled at her while he pulled her up to the nurse's station. "Excuse me," he interrupted one of the nurses. "My name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the crime lab..." He gestured to his cranky strawberry-blonde counterpart. "And this is Catherine Willows. There was a minor accident today at our crime scene and I'd like Catherine to be checked for injuries."
She narrowed her eyes at him sharply before turning back to the nurse. "And Catherine believes that Catherine is fine, and doesn't need to be checked for injuries."
The nurse smiled indulgently at the irate criminalist across the desk from her. "I'll have the doctor keep it short and sweet," she promised, then shuffled off to show them to an exam room, with Grissom towing Catherine along by the arm.
She once more yanked her arm from his grasp, fury knitting her brows together as she growled, "You're making me ten dinners in a row for this, Gil Grissom."
He just chuckled.
**
"Agent Mulder..."
Mulder, who'd been dozing seated in a hard plastic chair outside Scully's trauma room still wearing his blood-stained dress shirt, leapt to his feet at the sound of the doctor's voice, eyes snapping open. "Yes? How's Scully? Is she okay?"
"She's stable for right now," he replied, his voice monotone but expression somewhat grim, "But she's not even close to being out of the woods. She lost a lot of blood through her abdomen. How, I can't really say."
Mulder simply nodded in response to this, knowing how the blood was lost, but also knowing getting into a long-winded explanation would do no good against the doctor's conventional science. "So what now?"
"She's going to need a blood transfusion, as soon as possible."
"I'll give blood," he jumped in immediately, certain his desperation to help his partner was written in his features.
The doctor smiled sympathetically. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as that, Agent Mulder. You see, with blood transf--"
"I know how it works," Mulder interjected. He pointed behind him to Scully's closed door. "Scully and I have the same blood type. Scully's clean, I'm clean, there'll be no contamination whatsoever. Trust me... I've been mentally preparing for a situation such as this for years with the kind of work we do." His eyes bored into the doctor, begging him. "Now please... let me give blood, so I can help my partner."
The doctor sighed, searching Mulder's desperate eyes... before finally nodding his consent, gesturing down the hall and instructing Mulder where his blood would be taken, then watching as the tall agent sped off toward his destination.
**
"Well, there's quite a bump back here," the doctor reported, moving his gloved hands through Catherine's thick hair... separating the strands to expose the bump to Grissom.
"Almost right over the suture between the parietal and occipital bones," Grissom murmured. He leaned to the side slightly, giving Catherine a meaningful, almost stern look. "You were really lucky, Cath."
Catherine rolled her eyes, which the doctor caught and chuckled at as he moved around to face her. "Well Catherine, despite the egg-shaped lump at the back of your head, I'd say you're in fine condition. You've said there was no numbness or tingling in your extremities... no nausea or dizziness, so you don't have a concussion." He pointed to her head. "That spot on the back of your head is going to be awfully sensitive for a few days, though. But it's nothing a little Advil can't cure."
After sending a sharp glare toward Grissom upon hearing her own words from the physician's mouth, she nodded to the doctor, her tone sincere as she replied, "Thank you, doctor."
When the doctor had exited the room, Grissom quirked a slow smile, unable to stop himself from doing so at seeing the fury laced in Catherine's eyes. "So, good news, huh?"
She shook her head slowly, glaring daggers at him. "Ten dinners, Gil. Ten dinners." She hopped off the examination table, grabbing her purse and coat off the nearby chair where she'd laid them.
He smiled in response to her idle threat, his hand on the small of her back guiding her toward the door. "A small price to pay for the pleasure of your company, my dear."
Her growled reply practically echoed down the hall. "Oh, you're really laying it on thick..."
*****
Mulder sighed, his fist propping his head up as he sat in a chair beside Scully's hospital bed, eyes flitting toward the IV bag filled with his blood. His gaze trailed over the bag and down the thin tube leading from it to Scully's arm, his heart giving the tiniest of palpitations at the realization that his blood was now coursing through her veins... something so intimate, yet so easily dismissable as being something one does in the line of duty for a partner.
He sighed again, allowing his eyes to now venture up Scully's arm, to the short sleeve of her hospital gown... over her shoulder and up her neck to her face. He smiled softly, glad that her skin was almost back to its natural porcelain complexion. He'd admired her beauty since the day she first stepped into his office. He'd fallen hopelessly in love with her sometime between when the X-Files had first been shut down, and when she was abducted... though he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment in time he fell. It didn't matter.
Mulder frequently dreamed of being with Scully... often in a sexual way, but more often than not, just about being with her. Being able to touch that porcelain skin... to caress her face, to hold her hand; to smile endlessly into those heart-stopping eyes of hers. He'd so often dreamed of being able to kiss her lips... those pretty, pouted lips that were the most perfect shade of pink. When he'd been given the chance to kiss her just months earlier on New Year's Eve, he'd taken that chance, but had also found out to his dismay that one kiss wasn't enough. One kiss from Scully could never, ever be enough.
Lastnight he'd been offered another chance, and... while he'd initially taken it, something inside him made him stop. Made him consider everything they were putting at risk by starting down this new path. And she'd been so angry with him. She'd ordered him out of her room... albeit calmly, but the waver of fury was detectable in her voice. And then today she'd been so cold to him. So closed off and... well, pissy.
Perhaps now that she was lying in a hospital bed, drained of the strength she normally had for arguing with him, he'd be able to rectify what he'd done. Mulder almost smiled at the thought when he sensed Scully stirring beside him. His hand immediately flew to cover hers, giving it a gentle squeeze as he scooted closer to her bed, waiting for the moment her eyes would flutter open and he'd be graced with the sight of a sea of blue.
Seconds later, her eyes were upon him, her head tilting weakly to face him. "Mulder," she rasped... her voice coming out as more of a croak than anything else.
He smiled and lightly shushed her, standing up and grabbing the glass of water he'd poured for her off her bedside tray, bringing it to her lips. "Drink this," he told her, though she was already taking sips from the glass.
"Mmm," she hummed, her hand on his pushing the glass away as she replied, "Thank you," in a clearer voice now.
"Sure." He set the glass back down on the tray and once more took his seat. For a moment he just watched her, her eyes slipping closed in a slow blink before fluttering open again, focusing on the ceiling. "How do you feel?"
She turned her head to face him again, and though he inwardly winced in preparation for another 'I'm fine', the look in her eyes gave away the truth. And to his surprise, she murmured, "I feel weak."
"You are weak," he nodded, smiling when she arched an eyebrow at him. "But don't worry, it's only temporary. Soon you'll be back to being strong, indesctructable Dana Scully."
"What, um... what happened to me, Mulder?" She shook her head slowly. "I don't remember anything after I fell into the water. Then, the next thing I remember is waking up on the deck of the boat, bleeding."
He nodded, all of this old news to him. "You were pulled under, Scully. By that thing."
"Your 'Lake Thing'?" she asked, a hint of a smile twitching at one corner of her lips.
He chuckled. "Yeah. The 'Lake Thing.' Whatever it was, it grabbed you by the waist and was pulling you to the bottom." He nodded toward her abdomen. "My guess is it probably started to suck the life out of you, literally, through your belly button, like all the other victims."
She ran a hand over her abdomen, frowning slightly as she felt the roughness underneath. "I've had stitches," she announced, sounding almost surprised.
Again, he nodded. "Yeah. When I was trying to pull you away, that thing must've torn quite a hole in you. You lost a lot of blood." He averted his eyes from hers, leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees. He watched himself putz with his fingers as he added, "You could've died, Scully."
His voice was soft, but the severity and raw emotion in his tone didn't escape her. She reached for him just as she had so many other times she'd been laid up in a hospital bed... and he sensed this, immediately reaching out and finding her hand without lifting his eyes. "That's the closest to dying you've ever been, I think," he murmured. "And that says a lot, considering just how often you're a patient in one of these hospitals."
She gave his hand a squeeze and turned her eyes away, to the IV tube sticking out of her arm. "Blood transfusion?" she questioned, eyes drifting upward along the path of the tube, toward the crimson-stained bag hanging over her head, slightly to the side of her bed.
"Like I said, you lost a lot of blood. You needed a couple pints." He slowly looked up at her. "I gave blood."
"This is from you?" She gestured to the IV bag and he nodded solemnly. She managed a small smirk. "No wonder I have the strongest inclination to blame this whole thing on aliens and conspiracies."
This earned her a chuckle from her partner, which in turn made her smile... but the smile faded quickly upon noting the sadness still etched in his expressive hazel eyes. She gave his hand another squeeze. "So we're blood brothers now, huh Mulder?"
"Nothing like a little blood to bind the bond."
She smiled. "I don't think we could possibly be bound any tighter together than we already are."
"I do." He raised his eyes to hers once more, the sadness still there but slowly being replaced by something... else. Something that seemed to sparkle a cold determination in his eyes.
And in the mere second it took for her to read his eyes, she knew, and immediately shook her head. "Mulder, don't--"
"You almost died today. I'm not willing to spend anymore time dancing around this. Are you?" His eyes bored into her. "Is seven years a long enough dance for you, Scully? Or are you waiting until we waltz past year ten?"
Catherine's words from hours before came back to her, hitting her like a ton of bricks. Don't wait twenty years. She sighed.
*****
"How do you think Scully's doing?" Catherine asked, rubbing the back of her head while simultaneously bending down to retrieve her snack from the vending machine.
Grissom eyed this graceful movement a few seconds longer than what could be deemed appropriate, then quickly dragged his eyes up her body to meet her gaze while she turned to him. "We could check," he suggested.
She nodded, noting the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on his face, and the rushed way in which he spit out his words. "I'd say I just caught you in the middle of a 'check'," she teased, winking boldly at him.
He rolled his eyes at her bluntness. "Need I remind you of the two times I've caught you doing it?" he shot back, settling his hand on her back as he led her toward the nurse's station.
She smiled. "So? So I've checked you out, Gil, big deal. What breathing, red-blooded woman hasn't?"
"Excuse me?" It was this that stopped him in his tracks and made him turn to look at her, hovering dangerously close in a blatant invasion of her personal space.
She wasn't deterred by the closeness; rather, it seemed to egg her on. "Come on, Gil. You're eye candy. You should know that by now." With that, she patted his cheek briefly, winking once more before brushing past him... leaving him standing in place, staring dumfounded after her.
"I'm eye candy?" When coherent thought drifted back to him, he began to follow her. "You're the one that's got all the men at LVPD dragging their tongues."
Her smile was heart-stopping, a perfect mix of innocence and that seductive aura she so often gave off. "Then I guess that makes us a great match, doesn't it?"
Before he could respond, she'd reached the nurse's station and was already enquiring about Scully's hospital room. He had no choice but to close his open mouth and follow her the rest of the way.
**
"Mulder, look, about--"
He held up a hand to stop her. "No. We're not gonna do the 'about last night' thing right now, Scully. I've got something to say and I want you to listen."
His tone froze her, his jaw tense with determination and his eyes dominating. She could only nod once in response. "You remember when I was in the hospital last year, Scully? You and the Gunmen had plucked me out of the water near the Bermuda Triangle?"
She nodded again, murmuring briefly, "How could I forget?" But upon his sharp look, she silenced herself once more.
"And you remember what I said to you when I woke up in the hospital? Not about what had happened on that ship... but the other thing that I said." He saw realization come over her face and she averted her eyes to the thermal blanket covering her lap, her cheeks flushing just slightly. "What I said to you... you sort of brushed off. You dismissed it, like you didn't believe me, so obviously now's the time I need to say it again, Scully." He held her gaze firmly, his own softening. "I love you."
"Mulder--"
"No. I love you, and you need to believe me this time. I meant it then, and if possible, I mean it even more now. What happened between us lastnight... that wasn't just me being in the heat of the moment and then backing off when I realized what a mistake it was. That was me meaning everything I was doing, but being so afraid of losing what we've got now... of losing not just the X-Files, but the partnership. Our jobs in general, Scully. Lastnight, I wasn't willing to put all that on the line just because it meant something to me. I stopped because I wasn't sure that it meant something to you. And if it didn't, I would've had a hell of a time dealing with the aftermath."
She blinked back the tears filling her eyes and reached out for his hand. He stared at it for a moment before taking it in his own, his long fingers caressing the back of her knuckles. "Mulder..." she managed to whisper. "Mulder, lastnight meant--"
"Agent Mulder? Scully?"
The two agents, previously immersed in the sight of each other, both looked up startled at the pair of criminalists standing in the doorway. Catherine opened her mouth to speak, then, upon seeing the looks on their faces, she realized what she'd walked in on. "I'm... sorry. We interrupted something, didn't we?"
"No," Scully immediately replied, the tears in her eyes audible in her tone, and she quickly ducked her head to swipe them away, missing Mulder's shocked and hurt glance. "No, you didn't interrupt anything. Come in."
They did so a tad reluctantly, Catherine realizing a pivotal moment had been halted dead in its tracks while Grissom realized the air of tension surrounding the agents. "How are you feeling, Agent Scully?" Grissom asked, his eyes moving briefly toward the IV bag beside her bed.
"I'm fine," she replied with a nod. "Still a little tired, but fine."
Mulder rose to his feet, throwing a glance at his partner as he patted her hand, just once. "I'm heading out, Scully. Since you're doing better, I'm gonna get back to the case."
She felt the lump rising in her throat, tears threatening behind her eyes. She blinked twice, rapidly, reaching for his retreating hand. "Mulder, you don't have to--"
"I'll come back and check on you later," he interjected, a bit coolly. "We're all still on the clock, so at least one of us should be getting some work done, don't you think?"
Catherine witnessed the exchange silently, her eyes moving between the two agents as she took in Scully's near desperation... the emotion in her voice, followed by Mulder's blatant brushing off of her attempts to get him to stay. Once again, the need to meddle became overwhelming.
When Mulder brushed past them and threw one last glance at Scully before exiting, Catherine glanced to her counterpart. She spoke softly to him over her shoulder as he stood mere inches behind her. "Gil, maybe you should accompany Agent Mulder back to the lab."
He furrowed his brow, his eyes battling hers for just a moment as he contemplated her. Then, when realization dawned, he looked at her imploringly. "Cath..."
"Gil." She stopped him short with a look, the stern look the younger CSIs so often referred to behind her back as the 'wife' look; the one that, according to them, could make Grissom do practically anything she said.
Apparently, they were right. As soon as he caught sight of 'the look,' he nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, okay. I'll head back to the lab with Agent Mulder."
She smiled, pleased. "Good idea."
"But how will you be getting back?"
With a grin, she fished the keys to the Denali out of her pocket. "I'll be taking the truck back." She jerked her chin in the direction of the exit... the path that Mulder had taken only moments before. "So you'd better hurry before your ride takes off."
Grissom rolled his eyes, but threw her a smirk and touched her back before heading out the door, murmuring a brief goodbye. Catherine then turned her attention back to the copper-haired agent sitting upright in her hospital bed, catching her wiping a few escaping tears. She sighed, her heart going out to Scully, and she pulled up a chair, sitting beside her.
When this action gained Scully's attention, Catherine smiled sympathetically, laying a hand on Scully's left arm, which was resting at her side. "Talk."
Scully managed a chuckle, though it was grim and laced with tears. "Catherine, I really appreciate your concern, but--"
"Listen to me," Catherine interjected softly, and waited to continue until she had the redhead's attention once more. "I know you and I don't know each other very well, but I can see that something's going on between you and your partner. Something that you obviously need to get off your chest. And just as I can see that, I can also see that you probably don't have a lot of girl friends."
When Scully emitted a slight smile, Catherine chuckled, patting the other woman's arm. "I don't have a lot of girl friends, either. And quite often, I wish that I did, because it's for stuff like this that a girl friend comes in handy. And I've had my share of turmoil with my own 'partner.'" She watched as Scully raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow and looked toward the door, where Grissom had just vacated moments before... then back to her, in question. Catherine grinned. "Let's help each other out."
TBC
CHAPTER 14: Evading Truths
FANDOM(S): CSI, The X-Files
PAIRING(S): Mulder/Scully, Grissom/Catherine
SPOILERS: [CSI: Fourth season]; [X-Files: Seventh season]
RATING: R (for language, violence, etc.)
SUMMARY: Perhaps now that she was lying in a hospital bed, drained of the strength she normally had for arguing with him, he'd be able to rectify what he'd done.
*****
"Grissom!"
"Ouch! Don't hit me, Cath! I told you it would be wise to take you in!"
Catherine glared, jerking her arm out of Grissom's grasp as he practically dragged her down the halls of Desert Palm hospital. "I told you on the boat that I was fine. It's nothing a little Advil can't cure," she protested. She threw him a look. "It certainly isn't anything that warrants a trip to the emergency room."
Grissom merely smiled at her while he pulled her up to the nurse's station. "Excuse me," he interrupted one of the nurses. "My name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the crime lab..." He gestured to his cranky strawberry-blonde counterpart. "And this is Catherine Willows. There was a minor accident today at our crime scene and I'd like Catherine to be checked for injuries."
She narrowed her eyes at him sharply before turning back to the nurse. "And Catherine believes that Catherine is fine, and doesn't need to be checked for injuries."
The nurse smiled indulgently at the irate criminalist across the desk from her. "I'll have the doctor keep it short and sweet," she promised, then shuffled off to show them to an exam room, with Grissom towing Catherine along by the arm.
She once more yanked her arm from his grasp, fury knitting her brows together as she growled, "You're making me ten dinners in a row for this, Gil Grissom."
He just chuckled.
**
"Agent Mulder..."
Mulder, who'd been dozing seated in a hard plastic chair outside Scully's trauma room still wearing his blood-stained dress shirt, leapt to his feet at the sound of the doctor's voice, eyes snapping open. "Yes? How's Scully? Is she okay?"
"She's stable for right now," he replied, his voice monotone but expression somewhat grim, "But she's not even close to being out of the woods. She lost a lot of blood through her abdomen. How, I can't really say."
Mulder simply nodded in response to this, knowing how the blood was lost, but also knowing getting into a long-winded explanation would do no good against the doctor's conventional science. "So what now?"
"She's going to need a blood transfusion, as soon as possible."
"I'll give blood," he jumped in immediately, certain his desperation to help his partner was written in his features.
The doctor smiled sympathetically. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as that, Agent Mulder. You see, with blood transf--"
"I know how it works," Mulder interjected. He pointed behind him to Scully's closed door. "Scully and I have the same blood type. Scully's clean, I'm clean, there'll be no contamination whatsoever. Trust me... I've been mentally preparing for a situation such as this for years with the kind of work we do." His eyes bored into the doctor, begging him. "Now please... let me give blood, so I can help my partner."
The doctor sighed, searching Mulder's desperate eyes... before finally nodding his consent, gesturing down the hall and instructing Mulder where his blood would be taken, then watching as the tall agent sped off toward his destination.
**
"Well, there's quite a bump back here," the doctor reported, moving his gloved hands through Catherine's thick hair... separating the strands to expose the bump to Grissom.
"Almost right over the suture between the parietal and occipital bones," Grissom murmured. He leaned to the side slightly, giving Catherine a meaningful, almost stern look. "You were really lucky, Cath."
Catherine rolled her eyes, which the doctor caught and chuckled at as he moved around to face her. "Well Catherine, despite the egg-shaped lump at the back of your head, I'd say you're in fine condition. You've said there was no numbness or tingling in your extremities... no nausea or dizziness, so you don't have a concussion." He pointed to her head. "That spot on the back of your head is going to be awfully sensitive for a few days, though. But it's nothing a little Advil can't cure."
After sending a sharp glare toward Grissom upon hearing her own words from the physician's mouth, she nodded to the doctor, her tone sincere as she replied, "Thank you, doctor."
When the doctor had exited the room, Grissom quirked a slow smile, unable to stop himself from doing so at seeing the fury laced in Catherine's eyes. "So, good news, huh?"
She shook her head slowly, glaring daggers at him. "Ten dinners, Gil. Ten dinners." She hopped off the examination table, grabbing her purse and coat off the nearby chair where she'd laid them.
He smiled in response to her idle threat, his hand on the small of her back guiding her toward the door. "A small price to pay for the pleasure of your company, my dear."
Her growled reply practically echoed down the hall. "Oh, you're really laying it on thick..."
*****
Mulder sighed, his fist propping his head up as he sat in a chair beside Scully's hospital bed, eyes flitting toward the IV bag filled with his blood. His gaze trailed over the bag and down the thin tube leading from it to Scully's arm, his heart giving the tiniest of palpitations at the realization that his blood was now coursing through her veins... something so intimate, yet so easily dismissable as being something one does in the line of duty for a partner.
He sighed again, allowing his eyes to now venture up Scully's arm, to the short sleeve of her hospital gown... over her shoulder and up her neck to her face. He smiled softly, glad that her skin was almost back to its natural porcelain complexion. He'd admired her beauty since the day she first stepped into his office. He'd fallen hopelessly in love with her sometime between when the X-Files had first been shut down, and when she was abducted... though he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment in time he fell. It didn't matter.
Mulder frequently dreamed of being with Scully... often in a sexual way, but more often than not, just about being with her. Being able to touch that porcelain skin... to caress her face, to hold her hand; to smile endlessly into those heart-stopping eyes of hers. He'd so often dreamed of being able to kiss her lips... those pretty, pouted lips that were the most perfect shade of pink. When he'd been given the chance to kiss her just months earlier on New Year's Eve, he'd taken that chance, but had also found out to his dismay that one kiss wasn't enough. One kiss from Scully could never, ever be enough.
Lastnight he'd been offered another chance, and... while he'd initially taken it, something inside him made him stop. Made him consider everything they were putting at risk by starting down this new path. And she'd been so angry with him. She'd ordered him out of her room... albeit calmly, but the waver of fury was detectable in her voice. And then today she'd been so cold to him. So closed off and... well, pissy.
Perhaps now that she was lying in a hospital bed, drained of the strength she normally had for arguing with him, he'd be able to rectify what he'd done. Mulder almost smiled at the thought when he sensed Scully stirring beside him. His hand immediately flew to cover hers, giving it a gentle squeeze as he scooted closer to her bed, waiting for the moment her eyes would flutter open and he'd be graced with the sight of a sea of blue.
Seconds later, her eyes were upon him, her head tilting weakly to face him. "Mulder," she rasped... her voice coming out as more of a croak than anything else.
He smiled and lightly shushed her, standing up and grabbing the glass of water he'd poured for her off her bedside tray, bringing it to her lips. "Drink this," he told her, though she was already taking sips from the glass.
"Mmm," she hummed, her hand on his pushing the glass away as she replied, "Thank you," in a clearer voice now.
"Sure." He set the glass back down on the tray and once more took his seat. For a moment he just watched her, her eyes slipping closed in a slow blink before fluttering open again, focusing on the ceiling. "How do you feel?"
She turned her head to face him again, and though he inwardly winced in preparation for another 'I'm fine', the look in her eyes gave away the truth. And to his surprise, she murmured, "I feel weak."
"You are weak," he nodded, smiling when she arched an eyebrow at him. "But don't worry, it's only temporary. Soon you'll be back to being strong, indesctructable Dana Scully."
"What, um... what happened to me, Mulder?" She shook her head slowly. "I don't remember anything after I fell into the water. Then, the next thing I remember is waking up on the deck of the boat, bleeding."
He nodded, all of this old news to him. "You were pulled under, Scully. By that thing."
"Your 'Lake Thing'?" she asked, a hint of a smile twitching at one corner of her lips.
He chuckled. "Yeah. The 'Lake Thing.' Whatever it was, it grabbed you by the waist and was pulling you to the bottom." He nodded toward her abdomen. "My guess is it probably started to suck the life out of you, literally, through your belly button, like all the other victims."
She ran a hand over her abdomen, frowning slightly as she felt the roughness underneath. "I've had stitches," she announced, sounding almost surprised.
Again, he nodded. "Yeah. When I was trying to pull you away, that thing must've torn quite a hole in you. You lost a lot of blood." He averted his eyes from hers, leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees. He watched himself putz with his fingers as he added, "You could've died, Scully."
His voice was soft, but the severity and raw emotion in his tone didn't escape her. She reached for him just as she had so many other times she'd been laid up in a hospital bed... and he sensed this, immediately reaching out and finding her hand without lifting his eyes. "That's the closest to dying you've ever been, I think," he murmured. "And that says a lot, considering just how often you're a patient in one of these hospitals."
She gave his hand a squeeze and turned her eyes away, to the IV tube sticking out of her arm. "Blood transfusion?" she questioned, eyes drifting upward along the path of the tube, toward the crimson-stained bag hanging over her head, slightly to the side of her bed.
"Like I said, you lost a lot of blood. You needed a couple pints." He slowly looked up at her. "I gave blood."
"This is from you?" She gestured to the IV bag and he nodded solemnly. She managed a small smirk. "No wonder I have the strongest inclination to blame this whole thing on aliens and conspiracies."
This earned her a chuckle from her partner, which in turn made her smile... but the smile faded quickly upon noting the sadness still etched in his expressive hazel eyes. She gave his hand another squeeze. "So we're blood brothers now, huh Mulder?"
"Nothing like a little blood to bind the bond."
She smiled. "I don't think we could possibly be bound any tighter together than we already are."
"I do." He raised his eyes to hers once more, the sadness still there but slowly being replaced by something... else. Something that seemed to sparkle a cold determination in his eyes.
And in the mere second it took for her to read his eyes, she knew, and immediately shook her head. "Mulder, don't--"
"You almost died today. I'm not willing to spend anymore time dancing around this. Are you?" His eyes bored into her. "Is seven years a long enough dance for you, Scully? Or are you waiting until we waltz past year ten?"
Catherine's words from hours before came back to her, hitting her like a ton of bricks. Don't wait twenty years. She sighed.
*****
"How do you think Scully's doing?" Catherine asked, rubbing the back of her head while simultaneously bending down to retrieve her snack from the vending machine.
Grissom eyed this graceful movement a few seconds longer than what could be deemed appropriate, then quickly dragged his eyes up her body to meet her gaze while she turned to him. "We could check," he suggested.
She nodded, noting the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on his face, and the rushed way in which he spit out his words. "I'd say I just caught you in the middle of a 'check'," she teased, winking boldly at him.
He rolled his eyes at her bluntness. "Need I remind you of the two times I've caught you doing it?" he shot back, settling his hand on her back as he led her toward the nurse's station.
She smiled. "So? So I've checked you out, Gil, big deal. What breathing, red-blooded woman hasn't?"
"Excuse me?" It was this that stopped him in his tracks and made him turn to look at her, hovering dangerously close in a blatant invasion of her personal space.
She wasn't deterred by the closeness; rather, it seemed to egg her on. "Come on, Gil. You're eye candy. You should know that by now." With that, she patted his cheek briefly, winking once more before brushing past him... leaving him standing in place, staring dumfounded after her.
"I'm eye candy?" When coherent thought drifted back to him, he began to follow her. "You're the one that's got all the men at LVPD dragging their tongues."
Her smile was heart-stopping, a perfect mix of innocence and that seductive aura she so often gave off. "Then I guess that makes us a great match, doesn't it?"
Before he could respond, she'd reached the nurse's station and was already enquiring about Scully's hospital room. He had no choice but to close his open mouth and follow her the rest of the way.
**
"Mulder, look, about--"
He held up a hand to stop her. "No. We're not gonna do the 'about last night' thing right now, Scully. I've got something to say and I want you to listen."
His tone froze her, his jaw tense with determination and his eyes dominating. She could only nod once in response. "You remember when I was in the hospital last year, Scully? You and the Gunmen had plucked me out of the water near the Bermuda Triangle?"
She nodded again, murmuring briefly, "How could I forget?" But upon his sharp look, she silenced herself once more.
"And you remember what I said to you when I woke up in the hospital? Not about what had happened on that ship... but the other thing that I said." He saw realization come over her face and she averted her eyes to the thermal blanket covering her lap, her cheeks flushing just slightly. "What I said to you... you sort of brushed off. You dismissed it, like you didn't believe me, so obviously now's the time I need to say it again, Scully." He held her gaze firmly, his own softening. "I love you."
"Mulder--"
"No. I love you, and you need to believe me this time. I meant it then, and if possible, I mean it even more now. What happened between us lastnight... that wasn't just me being in the heat of the moment and then backing off when I realized what a mistake it was. That was me meaning everything I was doing, but being so afraid of losing what we've got now... of losing not just the X-Files, but the partnership. Our jobs in general, Scully. Lastnight, I wasn't willing to put all that on the line just because it meant something to me. I stopped because I wasn't sure that it meant something to you. And if it didn't, I would've had a hell of a time dealing with the aftermath."
She blinked back the tears filling her eyes and reached out for his hand. He stared at it for a moment before taking it in his own, his long fingers caressing the back of her knuckles. "Mulder..." she managed to whisper. "Mulder, lastnight meant--"
"Agent Mulder? Scully?"
The two agents, previously immersed in the sight of each other, both looked up startled at the pair of criminalists standing in the doorway. Catherine opened her mouth to speak, then, upon seeing the looks on their faces, she realized what she'd walked in on. "I'm... sorry. We interrupted something, didn't we?"
"No," Scully immediately replied, the tears in her eyes audible in her tone, and she quickly ducked her head to swipe them away, missing Mulder's shocked and hurt glance. "No, you didn't interrupt anything. Come in."
They did so a tad reluctantly, Catherine realizing a pivotal moment had been halted dead in its tracks while Grissom realized the air of tension surrounding the agents. "How are you feeling, Agent Scully?" Grissom asked, his eyes moving briefly toward the IV bag beside her bed.
"I'm fine," she replied with a nod. "Still a little tired, but fine."
Mulder rose to his feet, throwing a glance at his partner as he patted her hand, just once. "I'm heading out, Scully. Since you're doing better, I'm gonna get back to the case."
She felt the lump rising in her throat, tears threatening behind her eyes. She blinked twice, rapidly, reaching for his retreating hand. "Mulder, you don't have to--"
"I'll come back and check on you later," he interjected, a bit coolly. "We're all still on the clock, so at least one of us should be getting some work done, don't you think?"
Catherine witnessed the exchange silently, her eyes moving between the two agents as she took in Scully's near desperation... the emotion in her voice, followed by Mulder's blatant brushing off of her attempts to get him to stay. Once again, the need to meddle became overwhelming.
When Mulder brushed past them and threw one last glance at Scully before exiting, Catherine glanced to her counterpart. She spoke softly to him over her shoulder as he stood mere inches behind her. "Gil, maybe you should accompany Agent Mulder back to the lab."
He furrowed his brow, his eyes battling hers for just a moment as he contemplated her. Then, when realization dawned, he looked at her imploringly. "Cath..."
"Gil." She stopped him short with a look, the stern look the younger CSIs so often referred to behind her back as the 'wife' look; the one that, according to them, could make Grissom do practically anything she said.
Apparently, they were right. As soon as he caught sight of 'the look,' he nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, okay. I'll head back to the lab with Agent Mulder."
She smiled, pleased. "Good idea."
"But how will you be getting back?"
With a grin, she fished the keys to the Denali out of her pocket. "I'll be taking the truck back." She jerked her chin in the direction of the exit... the path that Mulder had taken only moments before. "So you'd better hurry before your ride takes off."
Grissom rolled his eyes, but threw her a smirk and touched her back before heading out the door, murmuring a brief goodbye. Catherine then turned her attention back to the copper-haired agent sitting upright in her hospital bed, catching her wiping a few escaping tears. She sighed, her heart going out to Scully, and she pulled up a chair, sitting beside her.
When this action gained Scully's attention, Catherine smiled sympathetically, laying a hand on Scully's left arm, which was resting at her side. "Talk."
Scully managed a chuckle, though it was grim and laced with tears. "Catherine, I really appreciate your concern, but--"
"Listen to me," Catherine interjected softly, and waited to continue until she had the redhead's attention once more. "I know you and I don't know each other very well, but I can see that something's going on between you and your partner. Something that you obviously need to get off your chest. And just as I can see that, I can also see that you probably don't have a lot of girl friends."
When Scully emitted a slight smile, Catherine chuckled, patting the other woman's arm. "I don't have a lot of girl friends, either. And quite often, I wish that I did, because it's for stuff like this that a girl friend comes in handy. And I've had my share of turmoil with my own 'partner.'" She watched as Scully raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow and looked toward the door, where Grissom had just vacated moments before... then back to her, in question. Catherine grinned. "Let's help each other out."
TBC