From: Erinstone1@aol.com

Shrink - Chapter 19
ErinStone1@AOL.com
Rated: R
Spoilers: none
Category: Scully/Slash
Archive: Yes-please make me aware of any final posts to a site.
Feedback: Any/all is welcome
Disclaimer: Scully and Mulder are not mine. I make no profit from this story.

Summary:  Scully decides she needs to take responsibility for her unhappiness.






"Have you done it yet Doc?"

"Done what Bob?"

"You know. I'm sittin' here all by myself. Just... thinkin'...  wondrin' if 
you've taken a spin on your new toy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Gail's face paled some. Scully 
stood next to her, one hand in place to hold the headphones up to her left 
ear.

"What I'm talking about is the hard-on you two are giving me. I want to know 
if you've gone down on her yet. What's she taste like Doc? Huh? She as sweet 
as she looks?"

Gail's jaw clenched and she lost her temper, "Shut the fuck up Bob." Her 
voice was even but Scully could see her hand shaking as she held the phone to 
her ear.

Bob let out a peel of laughter, "Jesus!" He laughed harder, "She cussed. The 
good doctor actually cussed."

Gail rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Where are you now? 
Are you still close?"

"Don't change the subject Dr. Aris. I was talking about..."

"I know," Gail said loudly, "what you were talking about Bob but I told you 
before that it's not like that."

"Well then what is it like? I can't see you from here. Not even a shadow."

Gail looked toward Scully, her face reddening, "What can you see from there?"

"I can see that you've got some help on the outside too Doc."

"I don't believe you Bob. The police have canvassed this area twice."

"Yeah, I know. I heard 'em walking around a while ago. Shame that none of 'em 
looked up."

Gail's stomach knotted. "Up?"

"That's right."

Gail was silent.

"So I told you mine." Bob said softly. "Now you tell me yours."

"Tell you what?"

"What you been doing in there?"

"Will you tell me more about where you are if I tell you what we've been 
doing?"

"I might."

Scully shook her head but Gail ignored her, saying, "We've been on the couch. 
Talking."

"Close?"

"Pretty close, yeah."

"I can see your garage from here doctor. All three doors."

Gail looked at Scully again and she nodded permission for her to go on.

"What have you two been talking about?" Bob's voice was uneven. Scully 
guessed that he was probably masturbating.

"Relationships, mostly."

"With girls right?"

"That's right Bob, with girls."

He was quiet for a moment. They could hear his breathing increase. Scully had 
a look of disgust on her face.

"You been with a lot of girls Doc?" His rasp came across shakily.

"A few Bob. A few. What else can you see?"

"I can see the greenhouse roof. Now you tell me, how many have you gone down 
on?"

Gail looked at Scully, embarrassed. She put her hand over the receiver and 
whispered, "Is this really helping? Should I just hang up?"

Scully whispered back, "I hate to say it but I think if you keep it up long 
enough he'll give away his location."

"What if he's lying?" Gail looked uneasy.

"He could be but it's worth a shot. Can you keep going?"

Gail nodded solemnly and said into the receiver, "I've gone down on a couple."

Bob emitted a soft moan then asked haltingly between breaths, "What's that 
like? What's it like for you?"

"Tell me which side you're facing, is it the north side?"

"I can't..."

"I'm hanging up Bob..."

"Wait... wait... I can tell you that it's not the west side..."

Gail turned from Scully slightly. She looked at the far wall of the warehouse 
and said, quietly, "It's beautiful Bob. With a woman, the right woman, 
anyway, it can be incredible." She knew Scully heard every word she said 
through the headphones, but somehow turning from her made it easier for Gail 
to answer his question.

"What do they do when you go down on them? What..." It was evident that Bob 
was close to ejaculating, "do they do?"

"Is it the north side Bob?"

"No, what do they do Doc?" They could hear him fumbling with something, "God 
dammit... what do they do when you're eating them?" Gail winced at his 
terminology.

Scully had written 'North, South, East and West' down in her notebook. As the 
conversation evolved she'd crossed out both 'West' and 'North'. 

Scully knew that the South side of the building faced an empty lot that was 
as big as a city block. That meant, if Pelt was telling the truth, that he 
was hiding somewhere in the ceiling of a building to the East.  

Scully tapped Gail on the shoulder. Gail turned and Scully made a motion as 
though she were hanging up a phone. 

Gail set the receiver in the cradle, hanging up on Pelt. "He's in the Old 
Metal Stamping building, if we can believe him."

Scully walked to the coffee table, picked up her cell phone and quickly 
dialed the Detective's number. She was patched through to a squad car right 
outside Gail's building. When Johns picked up she relayed the message to him 
and suggested that he take dogs into the building along with the officers. He 
said he was already on it.

Scully walked back toward the kitchen. "They're going back through now. I 
told the Detective that now would be a good time to find him. I doubt if Pelt 
can walk much less run."

Gail smiled self-consciously as Scully tinkered with the recording devise. 
She appeared to rewinding the tape. She then hit 'play' and 'record' 
simultaneously.

"What are you doing Scully?"

"Erasing that last call."

"But..."

"We have the evidence we need to convict him of assault. These tapes won't be 
needed to bring him down." Scully turned to smile at her. 

"Thank you."

Scully nodded and Gail walked back into the living area. She loaded some wood 
into the large center fireplace and hit the gas starter. By the time Scully 
came back to sit on the couch the fire was already warming the surrounding 
space.

"Got a chill." Gail stated as she felt Scully sit down next to her.

"I bet you did. That last call was pretty intense."

Gail smiled briefly at her, using just the corners of her mouth. Her face 
frowning slightly as she looked back toward the fire. "I feel like I gave him 
what he wanted. That makes me a little sick."

"Hopefully it'll help the police track him down."

"Yeah."

"Are you all right Gail?"

Gail stared at her for a moment then nodded. "I'm tired." 

Scully patted the empty space on the couch between them, "Wanna lie down?

Gail sat still for a second, then picked up a small pillow and put it in the 
spot Scully had patted. She stretched out on her side with the pillow under 
her head. With her eyes closed and the fire, and Scully's presence to warm 
her she actually started to feel safe.

Gail seemed to have fallen asleep after only a handful of minutes. Scully sat 
with her hands clinched in her lap. She was fighting the urge to stroke 
Gail's hair.

Thoughts of the intense daydream she'd had a couple days ago came back to 
her. The images mingled with Gail's words to Pelt in the last phone call...

She shifted slightly, letting her outer thigh rest against Gail's hand. 'I 
wonder if she's figured it out yet.' Scully thought. 

Her cell phone rang, jarring her out of her thoughts and Gail out of her 
sleep.

Detective Johns was shouting over the noise of a siren. "He's not here Agent 
Scully. We found no trace."

"Then he was lying." She said. Gail was turning over on her back. She looked 
up at Scully on the phone groggily.

"Must have been. We had six dogs and thirty officers combing that place. He's 
not there. I'm going to walk through once more myself, but it looks like he 
was playing with you."

"Thanks Detective."

"Yep. Let me know if you hear from him again."

"I will."

Scully hung up and settled back against the couch. She looked down at Gail 
shaking her head, "He wasn't there."

Gail sighed and closed her eyes, rolling to lay flat on her back. "I can't 
believe this." She whispered softly. "...can't believe it." 

Scully brought her hand off her lap and very tentatively stroked Gail's 
cheek. It was warm from the fire, soft. She ran the backs of her fingers from 
Gail's temple down to her chin, stroking slowly. Her fingers grazed the edge 
of Gail's lips and they opened slightly with the contact. She watched Gail's 
chest move up and down, she seemed to be breathing heavier. Scully's heart 
raced in her chest as she let her fingers again descend from Gail's temple to 
her chin. Her mind clouded as she watched her knuckles graze the parted lips 
once more. She wanted to leave them there, at the parted lips. She wanted to 
see those lips close over her fingers. 

Suddenly coming back to reality, and the professional awareness she knew she 
should be concentrating on, she pulled her hand away and swallowed hard. 
'Enough·' In her mind she chastised herself for not stopping her touch 
sooner· 

·and then for stopping it at all.

Gail's hand came up and reached for her. Scully sat mesmerized for a moment 
as Gail rested her palm on a spot just above her knee. Then Gail sat up 
slightly, discarding the pillow, and lay her head onto the spot her hand had 
just occupied. 

'Closer· she's closer·' Scully found her eyes locked with Gail's. Her heart 
pounded furiously in her chest. She knew her breathing was heavy· knew Gail 
had to be able to see her chest rise and fall. She tried to slow her heart 
but found that she'd started to tremble slightly as well. 'Why am I so afraid 
of this if I want it so badly?' Gail's hand came up to her face, her index 
finger running down Scully's cheek. She hadn't realized her lips were parted 
until she felt the soft touch run across her bottom lip. Her eyes shut 
tightly.

She felt blood roll· thick through her body then collect between her legs. 
The realization dawned, hazy at first, because it was new· so new· to feel 
quite this way· 'This is not fear·' Gail's hand trailed down her neck, her 
fingertips grazing the hollow of her throat. 'Desire·' Scully licked her 
lips· 'this is desire.' 

She was in pain. Pain that she couldn't categorize or describe. It was 
foremost in her mind· an ache· 

She nearly put voice to it· her mouth moved, her eyes shut tightly· 'I need 
you·' She was biting her bottom lip to keep from saying the words out loud.  
'I need you to kiss me· Gail·' she felt as though she could cry. She wanted 
to look into Gail's eyes and tell her. The ache built· grew stronger and she 
bit her lip harder yet. 

She felt Gail's warm breath against her abdomen and her hand wrapping around 
her waist. She looked down at her· 

"I·" she was breathless. The request died on her lips. She took another 
breath. Gail watched her wordlessly, staring up at her. Scully tried again to 
get the words out, "I need·" Gail sat up slowly, turning toward her. Her 
knees were tucked up under her and she leaned into Scully, laying her hand on 
Scully's opposite cheek and pulling her toward her.

She lay her lips on Scully's ear. "What do you need Scully?"

The contact made even harder for her to speak. She pulled her head back and 
shook her head· 

Manicured fingernails came up to Gail's lips. Scully held her fingers there 
for a moment, trembling·

Gail's heart quite literally stopped in her chest.

>From across the room the phone rang. Gail's face grimaced and Scully closed 
her eyes. 

Scully stood from the couch on shaky legs and walked to the kitchen. Gail 
followed her in and they stood together at the small table. The caller ID did 
not say 'out of area'. It said, 'Georgetown Cellu·'.

Gail picked up, "Hello?"

"Dr. Aris?"

"Yes?"

"This is Detective Johns. Your not gonna believe this·" Gail motioned for 
Scully to pick up the headphones. 

"What's that?"

"I took one more spin through the stamping plant myself· just covering my ass 
ya know? I'm on the second floor just walking through· hey is Scully on?"

"She's got the headphones."

"Good. I don't want to have to repeat this· anyway, I find this shit on the 
floor, like wet naps or something. Whatever they were they were fresh, know 
what I mean?"

Gail smiled slightly at Scully.

"So I walk quietly out and round up all the guys left from the first sweep. 
We go back in there, back to that spot and I send an officer up the back of 
that floor with a ladder. He gets into position with a flashlight and we 
ambush the guy."

Gail was confused. "So he was in there?"

"FUCK YES! Bastard was hiding on top of a ceiling joist! He had a rope up 
there with him, cell phone, lap top the whole bit! We got him Dr. Aris. It's 
over."

Gail's eyes closed and she reached for Scully's hand. "I can't believe it."

"Believe it Dr. Aris and meet me at the station along with Agent Scully in 
about a half hour. You need to ID this bastard and file some paperwork. The 
coffee's on me ladies."

"Thank you." Gail whispered through her tears.


-end-