TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Six

The rest of this is archived here:
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/scullypage/LIST.html

e-mail Address:  ErinStone1@aol.com
RATING: anywhere from PG to NC-17
CATEGORY:  Scully/Slash
SPOILERS: None
Archiving: just let me know where.

Disclaimer: Fox, Chris Carter and 1013 own them ALL, ***except Lena Conhouse,
she's mine, and of course, Wanda, who is mine in the literal sense.***

Comments are welcomed. Please send them to ErinStone1@AOL.com




"You've been busy." Lena watched Mulder make his way through the woods toward
their RV.

"Yes. Fire. Good." He smiled, dropping a load of kindling by the fire pit. He
walked over to where the women sat.

"Scully, we have to start growing our hair out. Mulder's going to need to drag
us around by it." Lena looked at Scully across the picnic table.

"Mulder," Scully looked at him in surprise. "Why the sudden interest in
campfire building? I thought you hated fire."

"I hate big fire Scully. I'm a master at the little stuff." Mulder put a hand
on Lena's shoulder. "Hey. I met one of our neighbors."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I didn't catch her name."

"Was she nice?"

"Not really, no. But I think she was having a bad day."

"That's too bad."

Mulder shrugged. "When are we going out?"

"As soon as you're ready." Lena said.

He gestured to Scully; "You're wearing that?"

She looked down at her jeans and tee shirt. "Yes. I'm wearing this."

"That came out wrong." He said quickly. "What I really meant was, 'can I wear
this?'" He stood back so they could survey him. His jeans were covered with
small twig debris.

"Oh yeah, that'll be just fine." Lena smiled at him. "Just wipe yourself off a
little, you've got some woods on you."

He wiped some leaves off his pant legs. "Let's go." Mulder gestured in front
of himself and Lena and Scully hopped up. The three walked the half-mile to
the bar.



The Elbow Room was much bigger inside than it appeared outside. But it was a
little hard to tell because the lighting seemed to be excessively dark.

Mulder held his hand in front of his face, "I can't see my hand."

"Better yet, we can't see the floor. And I for one don't want to." Scully
added.

The three decided to start out in a booth in front to eat.

"This isn't too bad." Scully craned her neck to look into the back bar area.
"You think they dance back there in the dark?"

"That'd be my guess." Lena sipped her drink slowly.

"What exactly is in that thing?" Mulder gestured to her glass.

"A manhattan?" Lena held the glass up to him.

"Is that what you call it?" He leaned over toward her glass and sniffed. "It
smells· bad."

"Well let's see. It's got whiskey, vermouth, and some other stuff. Oh, and a
cherry."

"Do you hear that?" Mulder tilted his head.

"What?"

"It's the cherry. It's screaming for help."

Lena smiled at him over the rim of her glass. Mulder had ordered a scotch and
water and Scully was nursing a glass of white wine that no doubt came from a
bottle with a twist off cap.

"How's your wine?" Lena asked.

"It would be great if I were already drunk. I may have to switch to something
a little less vague."

"Tequila?" Mulder piped up.

"Perhaps." She raised a brow at him.





Laughter; loud and annoying startled them. It came from the barstool area
where a man and woman sat huddled close together.

Mulder narrowed his eyes slightly trying to get a look at the couple. "I think
that's our neighbor."

"Seems she's in a better mood now." Scully said, trying to get a look at them
through the semi-darkness.

"She seems drunk." Lena added.

"The big guy must be Kevin."

"You know him?" Scully was surprised.

"No." Mulder turned his attention back to his table. "She was yelling at him
when we met."

"Was he yelling back?" Scully's expression went from casual interest to
concern.

"No, he wasn't there. She was cursing like a sailor."

The women stared at him, both aware that there was more to the story.

"I think he beat her."

Concern accelerated to active concern.

"She was screaming about not being a punching bag anymore. I think it may be
classic battered woman syndrome. They appear to be in the 'Honeymoon' phase
now." He gestured towards the bar at the kissing couple.

"Maybe that's not Kevin." Scully said.

They heard the woman give a quick admonition, presumably at being tickled,
"Kevin, quit it! I'm serious. I'll pee!"

"What did she say to you when you approached her?" Lena said.

"She told me to fuck off."

Lena nodded slightly, "I see."

The waitress delivered their food and the talking stopped for a while. Every
now and then the noise from the bar became louder, but never angry. It was
just laughter, for the most part.

Scully ordered a gin and tonic to replace the wine. Mulder and Lena both had
another too. By the time the meal was over those drinks were gone as well, and
they were on a third round.

"Watch me ladies, if I turn blue or start to look woozy it's the beef." Mulder
whispered. "Take me to the nearest hospital and call my next of kin."

"We are your next of kin." Scully said, smiling at him.


Mulder favored her with a broad smile of his own.

A small man came out from behind the bar carrying a large box with much
difficulty.

"Where those records?" Lena asked as he passed their table.

Scully looked at her smiling; "I think so."

"So we'll be dancing to 'Saturday Night Fever'?" Lena couldn't keep the
laughter out of her voice.

"Oh my god." Scully said simply. "Welcome to New Buffalo."

People started to trickle into the ElbowRoom. They were an eclectic crowd.
Some obviously from New Buffalo; others looked like they were in from Chicago
for the weekend. Soon enough the place started to get packed and the three
moved from their front table to a small round table in the back of the bar.
They were just a few feet from the dance floor. The view was perfect.

Mulder excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Lena leaned toward Scully, her mouth a hair's width from her ear. The contact
made Scully's eyes shut of their own volition and she felt butterflies float
gently through her stomach. "Think they have the french sex song?"

"God I hope so." Her voice came out in a whisper. How long had it been since
Lena had touched her? A full day? She knew she should have jumped her in the
woods·

"Yes, you should have."

Scully thought, 'would you have let me?'

"Ohhh." Lena's tongue grazed her earlobe. "Absolutely."

Lena sat back on her stool and Scully opened her eyes. They stared at each
other.

'How am I going to keep my hands off you tonight?' Scully didn't speak aloud,
she didn't need to.

"Who says you have to?" Lena whispered.

'But Mulder·'

"Afraid we'll have trouble keeping quiet?" Lena looked over her shoulder
toward Mulder as he made his way around people toward them.

'Yes'.

"That was an event." Mulder smiled as he sat down. "This place is packed."

The music had been playing for a while when a six headed light fixture on the
ceiling of the room suddenly spun into action. The bodies on the dance floor
were illuminated in multi-colored brilliance.

"Very classy." Lena said.

"Hey, there's my good friend Kevin. He's quite a dancer." Mulder gestured to
the middle of the dance floor where a large man danced in a style akin to a
seizure.

"I don't know whether to clap and scream, 'CLEAR!' and set to him with the
paddles." Lena was talking to Mulder but she could hear Scully's thoughts
clearly as resonated in her mind.

'Touch your neck for me.' Scully's voice, low and full of promise in her mind
was undoing her.

Lena looked over at her, questioning.

'The hollow of your neck. Run your fingers over it. Please.'

Lena glanced at Mulder and saw he was engrossed elsewhere. She reached up to
her neck and let two of her fingers trail from her chin to her throat slowly,
staring into Scully's eyes all the while.

'Mmmm, I love that spot.'

Warmth spread across her cheeks and her eyes slid shut as she touched the
hollow of her throat, imaging Scully's finger·

"You ok?" Mulder touched her elbow.

Her eyes snapped opened and she looked at Scully, who was looking now to the
dance floor, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tipped I guess."

"Tipped? As in tipsy?" Lena nodded at him. "Good, dance with me." Mulder
grabbed her hand and pulled her out on the floor.

It was a slow song and Mulder wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
"I'm having fun Lena."

"I'm glad." She smiled up at him.

"Me too."

They swayed close to their RV neighbors and Mulder nodded slightly at the
woman.

She recognized him through an alcoholic haze and whispered into Kevin's ear,
and as with most excessively drunk people, her whisper was actually a yell.
"It's him," she said in a loud hiss.

"Who?" Kevin turned toward them. He was startlingly ugly. Stop-a-clock ugly.

Lena and Mulder recoiled slightly in surprise. Lena whispered an inadvertent
'damn'.

The woman continued, "The guy! You know, the guy in our campsite?"

"The one who talked to you? When I wasn't there?" The words were thick and
hard to understand, but Mulder made them out none the less and started to
bristle at Kevin's connotation.

He whispered to Lena, "Let's go sit down."

She nodded and they were making their way back to the table when Kevin grabbed
onto the back of Mulder's tee shirt.

Mulder stopped and looked at Lena, wincing and shaking his head slightly but
not turning around. "Is it him?"

Lena nodded. "Fraid so."

"Does he look mad?" Mulder continued.

"And really drunk." Lena said.

Mulder turned in place slowly. Kevin still had hold of his shirt and he got
twisted up in the process. "Let go of my shirt Kevin."

Kevin was startled by Mulder's use of his name and let go of the shirt.

Mulder stared at the man with open disgust. "You're big but you're drunk. I
could beat the hell out of you."  He looked past Kevin to the woman. "Seems to
me there's been too many punches thrown today already."

Recognition spread slowly on the woman's face. She waited a beat and then took
Kevin by the upper arm. "Come on baby. He's not worth it."

Safely back at the table the group took a vote and decided that dancing would
be best left on their 'to do' list for a different town. They gathered up
their coats and made their way back to the campsite.





Mulder had a fire going quickly and they sat in a small circle around it, each
seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

Lena spoke up first, "How does a brandy sound?"

"Really good." Scully answered. Mulder nodded in agreement and Lena went
inside the RV to retrieve the brandy and some plastic cups.

"You okay Mulder?" Scully asked across the fire pit.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about our neighbors."

Scully shrugged slightly, "It's sad."

He nodded. "I understand the syndrome. To a point. I mean, I understand the
dynamics that result in a woman being in that particular cycle of abuse. What
I don't understand is why she treated me so badly."

"She was mean to you?"

"Mean isn't the half of it Scully. She told me more than once to fuck off."

Scully shrugged. "Maybe she was afraid that she'd be in more danger if she did
engage you. Maybe Kevin is the jealous type."

"That could be."

Lena came out of the RV with bottle and cups in hand. "Here you go kids.
Something to help you sleep."

"Where do you two want me, speaking of sleeping?" Mulder looked at Lena.

"Ummm." She stammered and looked to Scully for help.

"You're already set up in the back room aren't you?" She was on the verge of
stammering as well.

"My bag is in there but I can move it." Mulder may have known this was
uncomfortable for them, but if he did, he hid it well.

"No." Lena followed up, "That's okay, we can sleep in the overhead bed."

"You sure?" Mulder looked at Scully.

She nodded, "Yeah, that'll work out fine." She looked toward Lena nervously
and changed the subject. "Mulder and I were talking about our neighbors."

"Really? Did you come up with a plan?"

Scully was confused. "Plan? For what purpose?"

"To get her out of there." Lena said emphatically, as if they had missed the
obvious.

-end-