Temporary By RocketMan ===== Summary: Someone, actually, Darkstryder, told me that in my stories, Mulder abuses Scully a lot, and she thought it was more of a mutual abuse. So, she's inspired this one, all to her, and now I'm writing. You could say it was a mutual abuse story. (This is not *physical* - sorry for all you sadists out there) SPOILER:::::FOLIE A DEUX:::::US5 ===== "And this sea that divides us is a temporary one." -- "Temporary One" Fleetwood Mac ===== She licked her lip and chewed on the side of it for a moment before looking at him. He was glaring at the side panel of the elevator, his jaw working silently and making him look a lot more intimidating that he was. She sighed and wondered why he couldn't just let it go. "Scully." "No Mulder. I refuse to let you continue in this mass delusion." "You saw it," he said quietly. "I saw something. It was dark." He snorted. "How many times have I heard that one...." She glanced at him, her mouth set in the manner that told him she was irritated. "In five years of working together you should have seen it coming." He winced with the throwback of his words and leaned forlornly against the elevator, listening to its whirring of cables as it slid to a stop. It chimed and opened and he stepped out carefully, his lip still throbbing from where the 'crazy' guy had backhanded him with his own gun, and his wrists aching from his futile wrestling with the restraints. Scully followed behind him and he could hear her kind of sigh as they passed through the hallway of the basement, its dark drab walls echoeing her discontent. It was going to be a summer of her discontent; he was fairly certain of that. His too. She stopped behind him as he fumbled with the keys, then snatched them from his clumsy fingers and opened the door herself. She held it open for him with a look that plainly said, "What am I going to do with you?" He shrugged and gave her a pitiful look, hoping she'd go easy on him. Glancing around the room, he noticed she had been sitting in his chair while he was gone, at his desk too. The papers on top were neatly stacked and the pencils were all sharpened - something he never had time to do unless she was gone (like on vacation to Maine). "Made yourself comfortable I see." he said. She gave him another one of her Doubting Thomas looks: the one that said he had no right to even start with her because he'd get it all slammed back in his face. He knew she could probably do it too. "I told you so" rang in his ears. She moved around to sit in her customary spot in front of his desk, but he moved to block her and sat down in it instead. He pointed to his chair and pushed her towards it. She eyed him, felt his forehead, and frowned, all without words. "I'm not delusional anymore, Scully." He emphasized the delusional and the anymore to display his anger with her for passing it off as 'folie a deux.' She frowned again but sat down in his chair, slidng into it carefully as if it would bite. He watched her for a long moment then sighed and shook his head, realizing that what she had done for him was more than he deserved from her. She said nothing about his wild accusations to Mr. Pinkus, nothing of his crazy behavior at the woman's house, and not one single "I told you so" formed on her lips. He was grateful. "Hey, this chair is pretty uncomfortable." She nodded and said nothing. "Look-" "No Mulder. I don't know what happened, you don't know . . . well, you think you know. But let's just leave it at that, okay?" He nodded. It was okay again. They were okay again. "But it sure was almost *right* to see you in the psych ward." He frowned and she raised her eyebrow. Yeah, they were okay again. ===== end adios RM