"Hey, where have you been?" Scully was glad to see Mulder walk through the door. She was getting very bored being holed up in her small box of a hospital room.
"I went back to D.C. for while; to see what happened to Ritter at the OPR hearing." Mulder made his way to Scully and sat beside her on the bed.
"Mulder..."
"You look better, by the way. I talked with your doctor and he said you're making the fastest recovery he's ever seen!" Mulder wanted to change the subject.
"Mulder..."
"Scully, I'm sorry but I needed to make sure that the review board was going to do the right thing."
"Which is what, exactly?"
"Well, he should be kicked out of the bureau, for one."
"Mulder, come on."
"Aren't you angry at him, Scully? Because I am. He almost killed you."
Scully paused and was almost embarrassed to say what she was thinking.
"He couldn't have killed me," she finally said in a quiet voice.
"You really believe that Fellig 'stole' your death, don't you?"
"I don't know what to believe. I know that people don't live forever. But his pictures, Mulder. I saw pictures that he took of people dying from way back in the early 1900's. He was trying to capture death itself so that he could die. He told me that death overlooked him when he had yellow fever...that he actually 'saw' death come to take him, but he closed his eyes and it took the nurse instead of him, and ever since then, he had been longing for death to take him. It never came no matter how many times he tried to commit suicide, no matter how many decades passed. He couldn't even remember his wife's name he had outlived her for so long. He just wanted it all to end. So he took my hand, told me to close my eyes, and he died."
"Instead of you."
"I guess so."
"Just for once, Scully, why can't you admit that you believe in something paranormal?"
"Maybe I will when I see the autopsy results."
"Well I saw the autopsy report. He died of a single gun-shot wound. That's all it said."
Scully sighed and looked out the window. "So what happened at the OPR hearing?"
"He got off lucky. Too lucky. They gave him a three-month suspension without pay."
"I thought you were going to make sure they him kicked out for good?"
"Well, yeah, that would have been ideal, but uh, if you remember, the review board doesn't exactly care what I think." Mulder gave Scully a quick smile and then his face turned serious again. "Since I wasn't 'officially' on the case, they wouldn't let me testify. They did rule that he is never to be partnered with you again, but believe me, I still want to beat the crap out of him."
"Mulder..."
"I know. Okay, okay. I'll play it cool. But only because you're doing better." He gently kissed the top of her hand and then rested it back down on the bed.
Their hands stayed entwined together while his fingers moved over and through hers, and her fingers moved over and through his. They were playing a game of sorts, to see who could caress the other's hand the most without letting go. They did this for a while until Scully broke the silence.
"I, um, wanted to thank you for the flowers."
Mulder stopped his fingers from moving and looked into Scully's eyes. She could tell he was scared of what she was thinking at that moment. He held his breath.
"I mean...only you, Mulder, would send me flowers from my dead dog."
Mulder smiled and released the breath he was holding. He was glad that she was downplaying this. "What are you talking about? I didn't send those. Queequeg really sent those to you. From beyond the grave. We should open an X-File on it."
Scully smiled back. She knew he was using humor as a way to hide his fear of expressing his true emotions. Should she press the real issue here, or not? Or was she not brave enough to do it either?
She noticed that Mulder had relaxed again as he brought his gaze back down to her hand and proceeded to play with her fingers.
"The daisies are nice, and the roses are very pretty, but I think I like the orchids the best." There, she went for it. Somewhat. In a way.
"You...'think' you like them the best?" Mulder asked and then swallowed hard, not being able to look her in the eye.
"I 'know' I like them the best," Scully said without hesitation.
This time he wasn't afraid to look deeply into her eyes, and when he did, he saw the truth. The message had been sent, received, accepted, and reciprocated. Communication without actually saying the real words. It's what they did best.
This time it was Mulder's turn to break the silence. "I should let you rest. I hear they're releasing you tomorrow. I'll be here in the morning to take you home." He placed one more kiss to her hand and proceeded to leave.
"Mulder?"
He turned back to look at her. "Yes?"
"I love you," she said playfully. She knew that the words didn't need to be said, but she mostly said it to break the tension in the room and to poke fun of the time he had said it to her. He took the bait.
"Oh brother!" Mulder exclaimed as he rolled his eyes Scully-style and turned to walk out.
--The End--
AN: I have no idea what kind of punishment the FBI dishes out to Feds who accidently shoot other Feds, so I just made up the three-month bit. If anybodyhappens to know, I would love to hear from you, ya know, just as an interesting side note. The actual episode never said what happened to Ritter,either. . .Anyways, I started out writing this story just based on Tithonus, and ended up throwing in some Triangle and Fight the Future Movie without even planning to. Funny how that happened. Thank you to all my reveiwers- you are all awesome.