Overweighted Chapter Nine By RocketMan ===== "I have lain on the floor of the sea and breathed with the breathing of the sea-anemone." -- TS Eliot ===== "She makes me see things differently," he whispered. Scully's head jerked up from where she was helping Helen tie her shoe and blinked a few times. "What?" "The way she describes something makes me look at it differently. And then I turn around and something else is changed." Scully smiled and moved Helen's hands back to her laces, in the right positions so she could get it done. Her nimble fingers fumbled on it and ended up tangling herself in the string. Scully stroked her cheek and tried again. "Why don't you let her have a break?" he said suddenly. "Because she wants to do it." she replied, looking up at him. Her mouth was slightly parted and he could almost feel how her breath was, sharp and winded from frustration. "She makes me see you differently, too." She smiled. "Did we switch subjects again?" He grinned. "Come on, Scully. You've always been able to follow me before." "I just pretended, Mulder. I have never been able to follow you." But she was grinning and her voice was laughing at him. "She does." "Follow you?" "Ha. Yes. But I meant, she really does make me see you differently." "Good?" "Good." Helen made her animal noises and threw down her laces and pushed at Scully's hands. "Doesn't look like she wants to do it, Scully." "Well, too bad. I'm going to make her." "I don't think that's a good idea." "Mulder you can't go easy on her becasue she's deaf and blind. She needs to be treated just the same --" "I'm not trying to go easy on her. If this was our kid and she could hear and see, I'd still tell you to let her have a break. There's such a thing as too much. She'll begin to think it's impossible and then not ever really try." Scully glared at him and Helen shifted uncomfortably. "She is our kid." she said icily. He ignored the slip. "Scully, I did major in psychology . . ." She gently pushed Helen from her lap and signed "later" into her hands. Helen smiled and bolted for her Daddy, throwing her arms up and waiting with unseeing eyes for him to pick her up. He swung her around and nestled her to him. There was a lot of silence in their home. Silence, but words were being said, either with eyes or hands. she signed. Mulder glanced to Scully, seeing if she had caught that. "Mulder . . ." "How could she know?" he said, frowning. "We weren't yelling or even really angry. How could she know?" "She can't *hear* Mulder. How did she know?" Mulder rolled his eyes. "That's right Scully. I just said that." "You are so sarcastic today," she murmured, shaking her head. She turned to the table to pick up the trash from lunch and heard him yelp. "Mulder?" She was by his side before the dazed look passed from his face. "What's wrong? Mulder?" He jiggled Helen and then eyed Scully. "She signed . . . told me not to be sarcastic." Scully's breath came sharp, quick. "What do you mean, Mulder? That she can hear us? That she's been faking? There were tests, they --" "No, she's not faking. She's got that connection, Scully. The one that led you to her, it's back." She shivered. "Or maybe it never left." ~~~~~ It was fun playing with them. They were being mean and I wanted them to stop. I didn't want to tie my shoes anymore and I wanted to make them stop falling into the same routine. Insult, apology, insult. That's how it goes now. They can't stand being trapped together even if somewhere, they love each other, even if they love me. I'm not supposed to make it. I'm going to die and then they can go back to themselves. It'll be okay again. ~~~~~ "She makes me see you differently." "You said that." "Scully, shut up and listen to me." She gaped at him, but did. "She's made me realize that we're not too good to each other. We fight a lot, but mainly, we just don't fit. I think . . . I think we should try something different." It was as if love was being squeezed right from her body, along with all her blood. She didn't know what to say. She sank to the bed, eyes blank as he watched her. She was taking it a bit too seriously. "Why don't I start sleeping in my bed again?" She frowned, clearly not understanding. "Oh. Okay. I don't mind having the couch --" "No, Scully." "You -- you want me to leave --" "No, Scully." He was smiling, laughing almost. He dropped to where she was sitting. "What?" "I want you right here." He took her hands and placed his fingers where she could feel every inch of them. Breath. Breath. Then: "What?" He laughed. "Stay here. Right here. With me." She shook her head and lowered it. "Mulder, we can't --" Her mouth stopped moving as she caught his eyes. Her breath didn't come. "Did you ever learn to tie your shoes?" he whispered. She nodded. "Then you can." His lips fell to hers and remained. ~~~~~ Everything's okay again. Maybe I am supposed to stay. ~~~~~ end chapter nine adios RM Am I just killing you???