Title: THE ANIMAL AWAKENS: FIRE AND RAIN" Part Four Author: Reddi @ Red1401@btinternet.com Spoilers: Not really. But maybe thru to 7 if you count slight references. Rating: ?? ***ssssslash-tastic baby*** Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Also included are ickle song lyric quotes - in this case, the titles. I don't own them either. In fact, when you really think about it, I own very little, except maybe my weird and wacky imagination. Summery: Samantha is found. Scully is lost. Scully closed the door to her apartment and went through her nightly ministrations. It wasn't until she was in the safety of her double bed that she began to think about her evening. This wasn't like anything she had dealt with before. This was... What was this? Her scientific mind told her she ought to lay out exactly what it was she was dealing with. But how could she? She didn't know. Did she? Her mind became a blank sheet with two columns. The first column contained the word Isn't, the second was a value judgement on whether column A had positive or negative results. She was embarrassed. She thought of her father, Scully forced herself to breathe, this situation was confusing the hell out of her. Scully thought about that. Certainly she had known gay people before, she wasn't naive enough to believe that she had never encountered a closeted homosexual, but meeting that alternate healer and her *partner*, now that was different. It was like, well they weren't at all embarrassed by it. They were just 'normal'. But then again, they couldn't have been 'proper lesbians', they weren't butch. But then, neither was she. This thought caused alarm. Unable to think about that, Scully pulled the pillow around her head, drew her knee's up to her chest and settled down to sleep, something which was to evade her for a long time. Her last conscious thought was of a tall, dark Mulder and an ill-fated almost-kiss in a darkened hallway, only this time there lips did meet, both were hungry for the contact, it wasn't until she pulled back from the embrace that she realised that the tall, dark Mulder of her dreams had changed. It was still Mulder. Samantha Mulder. 7:14am Basement Scully entered the Federal building and made her way to the office, hoping to be alone for a while before Mulder came in. As she opened the basement door she just knew that today was gonna be one of those days. *thwack* A scrunched up ball of paper hit her squarely between the eyeballs. "Morning." "Shit Scully, I mean, sorry I was just going through this paperwork and something frustrated me and... What are you doing here anyway? It's like 7:15?" "Apology accepted." Scully manuvered around the scattered paper scrunchies and found her desk. She eyes him wearily. "All right,.. I'll bite." She whispered under her breath. "Since when did you do paperwork?" Mulder grinned. "Well Scully, I know things have been tough for you recently, and I came round to thinking that I don't always make things easy for you, so as a token of my appreciation I thought I'd come along a little early and get started on these..." A snort stopped him mid sentence. "You couldn't sleep either then?" "Not a wink." Now it was Scully's turn to smile. After all they had been through, after everything, after hell, they still had this. And in her mind *this* was the only thing in her life worth fighting for. At least, until recently. Allowing her silent thoughts to taper off she went to the coffee pot and poured two cups. Mulder smiled appreciatively. He was her best friend, that wasn't going to change. There had been a time when Scully had thought it would be so much more, but that was against regulations. Something she had always been careful of breaking. Mulder was her other half. Where he was disobedient and disruptive she was calm and collected, where he was open she was closed, where he believed without question she questioned his beliefs, where she was dark he was light, her *better* half. Scully was disturbed from her thought by a polite cough. She looked over to find Mulder staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face. "Better Mulder. Not perfect." His smirk disappeared when he saw a barrage of scunched up paper heading his way. 11.16am A. D. Skinner's Office "Sir, with all due respect we've been through this. I know we're close here. This is everything I have ever worked towards, how can you ... " Mulder was cut off by a wave of Skinner's hand. "Agent Mulder I realise that you have just had a big shock. Getting your sister back like that, well, it was quite amazing so think about what I will suggest to you now." He paused a took a breath "The alleged person or persons responsible for her..." He skirted around for a word, he wanted to avoid 'abduction', "'kidnapping' are a part of the most complex infrastructure within this country and throughout the world. Do you really want to tangle with that and risk losing what you've only just found?" The words penetrated his mind. A red haze settled down there. The anger began to seep through his skin, his posture altering so that his muscles coiled like a cobras ready to strike. His eyes grew hard, the green darkening to the colour of a stormy sea. He was hurting. Scully watched as Skinner visibly flinched at the transformation in front of him. When he spoke, Mulder's voice was even and steady but betrayed the barrage of emotion which he was keeping so tightly reined in. "You're telling me, if I pursue this,... If I seek out the answers that have eluded me for so long,.. If I don't just let this one go,.. That they will take her from me again." It wasn't a question, and he wasn't done yet. "Well, *Mr* Skinner, we make our own choices we pay our own prices." And with that he up and left, leaving a disgruntled and somewhat amazed Skinned and a simmering Scully. Skinner watched the door close. "Dismissed" He said aloud. Scully rose from her chair and approached his desk, leaning over so that her face was merely inches from her bosses "Sir, permission to speak candidly?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Frankly I expected more of you. He deserved better." Scully turned on her heals and followed Mulder, this time however Skinner was faced with a much more pronounced bang as the door slammed to a halt. He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and walked over to the window. He hated having to do this. To lie. Scully was right, Mulder did deserve better. They all did. He stood there for a while until a familiar stench pervaded his nostrils. He spoke just two words, not even turning around to utter them. "It's done." A small snick followed by the fading smell of burning nicotine told him that he was one again alone. He returned to his computer terminal, logging in using the new voice mail system the FBI had had installed on their system. "Compose new mail." "Ready" "Addressed to , CC . Header: Annual leave." The computerised woman spoke again, "Begin". "I have been made aware that neither Agents F. Mulder nor D. Scully have taken so much as a day of their due leave in the last eleven months. As you are well aware it is company policy to ensure that all leave is taken within the allotted dates, the penalty for exceeding this limit is one month without pay and mandatory leave for a period of two or more weeks lasting until six weeks from the date therein. I am sure I don't need to remind you that it would not be in your best interests to 'ignore' this policy as a great deal can happen in six weeks. Offices get reallocated, divisions get shut down and others appear in their place. Far better then that you agree to my proposal for two weeks leave to be effective immediately. I don't want to see you in this office until after that point, when we will sit down and discuss today's events in more detail. A.D Walter Skinner. p.s. Enjoy your R&R. Spend some time with Samantha. Get to know her. She needs you." "Computer send mail" "Sent mail" * * * Scully returned to an empty office. She had never seen Mulder so furious. She removed the charcoal jacket that she had been wearing and hung it over the back of her chair. Absently she flicked her laptop on. As she moved to make more coffee she found her eyes drawn to the jacket draped over the chair. she mused. With effort she logged in at her desktop and clicked on the icon for new mail. Supposedly there was new voice interactive software available now, but Scully much preferred the old mouse, cursor and keyboard routine. After all, how could she afford not to, in this place especially the walls had ears and super-super-sensitive hearing. Sixteen new messages. None off Mulder. But,.. one from Skinner? She's only just ... She clicked on it. Incredulously she reached for her cell phone. "Mulder it's me." "Scully." "We're on leave" "What?" "Enforced leave." "They can't do that..." "They can and they have. Skinner sent us both an e-mail on it." Silence. "Mulder? It might not be such a bad thing. Two weeks. You can spend the time with Samantha." It wasn't much, but it was the most she knew to say to him. "Scully,... I want you to know, I mean, I can't drop this and it isn't your fight. This is one place that I'm going to go on my own." "No Mulder. Where you go, I go. You know that." Another silence, but this one was a comfortable, usual one. "Scully, thanks." As the line went dead she contemplated the last sentence of Skinner's mail. *p.s. Enjoy your R&R. Spend some time with Samantha. Get to know her. She needs you.* Undoubtedly that was tacked on just for Mulder. Wasn't it? End part 4.