TITLE: A Valentine to Me
AUTHOR: Dilby
CLASSIFICATION: V, Very mild Frohike angst.
RATING: PG for mild profanity
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just let me know where it's going. ;)
DISCLAIMER: Not mine.  *sniff*  Wish they were.  Don't we all.
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. dilby@dizmo.iwarp.com
SUMMARY: An e-mail Valentine card causes Frohike to pour his heart out
about All Things Scully.

February 14th.  Valentine's Day.  Of course, work doesn't stop just    
because Cupid's flying around, shooting his pointed arrows.  I have   
e-mail to read, and plenty of it.  Twinkie-gram from Langly, hand 
typed greetings from Byers, an attachment from Mulder that, well, is 
going to wait for later.  But there's something else.  One of those 
Hallmark e-mail greeting cards.

>Dana Scully has created an e-card for you at Hallmark.com...

Yes!!  Scully, of all people, has sent me a Valentine's card.  It has 
friendship and appreciation written all over it.  This one is being 
saved.  I treasure her friendship.  But I have a confession to make.  

I love Dana Scully.  I've always loved her.  From the moment I set
eyes on her, in fact.  

How could anyone not see how stunning she is?  Beautiful and
intelligent all in one. You don't find a combo like that all too 
often.  Sure, I've made some unnecessary comments about her. 
Probably too many to count, but she's handled them with dignity and 
aplomb.  Which of course just adds to my admiration.  

In retrospect, I think I know why I did it.  She deserves better than 
me.  Let me be the first to admit that I'm not the best catch in the
world.  Hell, I'm not even in the top half.  So when I meet someone of 
that caliber, how can I help but make myself seem even less than I am?
It gives her a chance to find someone she deserves.

She and Mulder, of course, would be a perfect couple.  They must be   
blind not to see the chemistry that just naturally flows between them.
Only everyone else in the world can.  Or maybe they do see it, but 
they just don't want to do anything about it.  If so, that's a damn 
shame.  I mean honestly, Scully deserves to have a relationship with
someone who isn't an absolute nutcase.  She doesn't have a good track
record on relationships.  Trust me. I've heard.

Despite how he acts sometimes, Mulder would still be better than what 
she's had recently.  They need each other.  Hell, Mulder just needs 
someone other than the women at the other end of 1-900 lines. Phone 
sex is for guys like me, who couldn't get a date if they tried.  Not 
Mulder.  God, is the man really so tied up in his quest not to see the 
goddess that works with him every day?

I've tried to help.  Really I have.  I make comments about her to 
Mulder when she's not around.  Make him defend her honor.  And he
always rises to the challenge.  Rather chivalrous of him, really.  Not
that Scully needs chivalry by any stretch of the imagination.  I've
never seen someone more capable of handling herself than she is.
Which is why it really kills me when something happens to her that she
can't defend against.

Like the coma and the cancer.  They just broke my heart.  I had to
send flowers.  Brighten the hospital room the way knowing her has 
brightened my life.  Of course, you can't really compare the two.  The
humbleness of my bouquet of wildflowers next to the radiance of her
personality?  No, there is no comparison.  But it was a token.  The
best I could do, really.  

And at least it showed I cared.

I'm thrilled beyond belief that she considers me a friend now.  When
we thought Mulder was dead, and I showed up at her doorstep, bottle-
empty drunk, she easily could have called me a cab right then and 
there, or just not have even opened the door.  She helped me more than
even I could have imagined.  

We really had a heartfelt talk that night.

I think it solidified our friendship, such that it is.  It's rather
amusing, in hindsight.  It took me being drunk off my ass to show 
that I can be the proverbial prince under that frogskin.  Oh well.

Anyway, that is my Valentine's Day confession.  The love of my life 
is destined to be unrequited.  As I said before, that's as it should
be.  She deserves better, and I realize that. They say the hardest
thing about loving someone is knowing when to let them go.  For once,
"they" are right. 

But, she is my friend.   

And that's something I wouldn't give up for the world.

You know, I'm gonna print out her card and put it in a secret place.
Gotta be careful with all these computer hackers around... and don't
get me started on Langly.  The things I could tell you...

The End.

AUTHOR NOTES: Yes, I'm a Frohike fan.  I admit it.  I love the little 
guy, for what it's worth.  He's a lot sweeter and deeper than most 
people give him credit for.  I hope I managed to portray that.  Thanks
a lot for reading, and if you made it this far, I applaud you.  *grin*

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks so much to Mary, who helped change this thing
from a completely disjointed set of ramblings to an actual sweet V-Day
story (all hail the Beta Readers Circle).