From greyfox@netcom.ca Tue Feb 18 05:18:09 1997 ------------------- Date: February 18, 1997 Rating: PG Category: S Spoilers: none Summary: An empty office is the perfect place to sing. What more do you need to know? :-> Disclaimers: (see last page) ------------------- This is a short, sort-of humorous piece. It may be a little out of character, but then this is The X-Files and you never know. ------------------- Write me? Lonely… need good mail… :-> ------------------- Auto-reverse (1/1) by Alicia Donovan With a flick of the switch, fluorescent beams cast their light throughout the room though not sufficiently. The basement office was left even dimmer than the outside hallway. Despite the poor lighting, he could still see the posters and papers haphazardly pinned to the walls and the stacks of files lining the walls not yet placed on their new shelves and in cabinet drawers. A new door plate. The office now officially belonged to Fox Mulder *and* Dana Scully. A new desk. It sat where the old table used to be. New shelves and taller, sleeker filing cabinets had been moved in to make the office more spacious. It would look good once the place was tidied. He could see the beginnings of more of a woman's touch in the room. On her desk, there was a small pot of violets and a few silver picture frames. Pictures of her family, of her and her mother. A porcelain figurine of a little dog sat next to her name plate. He imagined her sitting at her desk, busily working the hours away. Perhaps her glasses on the end of her petite nose. She would push them up and then tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He'd make a sound, maybe clear his throat, and then she'd look up and smile. He'd say… he'd say… … Even in his imagination, he didn't have the nerve to ask her out. He looked around and sighed at the dark, empty office. With a soft click, he heard his walkman's auto-reverse function turn his tape over. He knew which song was coming up next. It was his favorite. He closed his eyes and imagined her there, in the same room. "You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips… There's no tenderness, like before in you fingertips… You're trying hard not show it… but Scully… Scully… I know it… You lost that lovin' feeling…" he sang out loud. He stretched out his hands as if to reach for her; as if to serenade her. Then he opened his eyes and pointed to the empty chair, the mood enveloping him. He didn't care if he was out of tune, the building was practically empty on Saturday mornings. "Whoa, that lovin' feeling. You've lost that lo…" Suddenly above the music, he heard a faint noise and looked over to the doorway. It took him a moment to register he was being watched. "Mulder!" He fumbled frantically to stop the tape player and get the ear phones off. The machine tossed clumsily around in his hands almost dropping to the floor. The heat was rising unbearably under his collar and his head pounded with anxiety and embarrassment while he nervously threw the walkman down on the desk. "I didn't know you were headlining in this part of the basement," "W-what are you doing here?! It's… it's Saturday!" "Relax, Pendrell, I forgot a disk." Mulder said with indifference. He tried to make sure it didn't seem like he was laughing. Moments before when Pendrell had broken out in loud chorus, off-key, Mulder hadn't been able to control himself and clapped loudly. It had brought the younger agent out of his reverie, but it had also put him into such of a state of distress that heart failure would not have been out of the question. "I happened to be passing by and the janitor… uh," "The janitor was emptying the waste baskets? You just stopped in to see the new cabinets? Ain't they purdy?" Mulder's lips curled and formed a mischievous grin. "Uh-huh," Pendrell nodded in earnest. He had never been so mortifyingly embarrassed in his whole life. "It's okay. I know you have a special place in your heart for Agent Scully. It's just between you, me and the four walls," Mulder walked nonchalantly to his desk and looked under some papers for the disk. "Okay. Well… say hi to her for me on Monday, if you see her." He knew it was a stupid thing to say as soon as the words left him. Of course he'd see her. Pendrell couldn't bear to stay in the office a moment longer knowing that Mulder had seen him make such a fool of himself. How could he ever look at either of them in the eye again? He quickly headed towards the door as Mulder looked up from his desk. "Have a nice weekend," Mulder smiled. Pendrell waved unenthusiastically as he ran out of the office. All the way down the hall, the image of Mulder's smile haunted his thoughts. He could've sworn Mulder was taunting him. Fox Mulder shook his head back and forth and chuckled quietly. It had been an awful morning when he realized he'd left the disk at the office. He never expected to be greeted with music, such as it was. Coming down the hallway, he had drawn his gun wondering who was in his office. Then the singing began. Mulder opened his desk drawer and found the disk he wanted. As he closed it, he looked over and saw that Pendrell had left his cassette player behind when he had made his hasty departure. He picked it up and put on the earphones. Pressing play, the loud music filled his ears. Mulder couldn't resist. He moved to the open space where the other agent had been standing. Thoughts of Dana Scully came to him just as they had come to Pendrell. He liked the song too, plus just the night before he had caught 'Top Gun' on cable. he mused to himself. "You never close your eyes anymore when I reach for you… And girl, starting to criticize the things I do… It… na-na-na… feels like crying," Mulder realized he didn't know all the words to the song. He looked at his partner's empty chair and held out his hand as if it would make her suddenly appear and take it. "Scu-lleeee…. 'Cause baby, something beautiful's dying… You lost that lovin' feeling…" He sang, putting more emotion into it than he had originally intended. Suddenly remembering the embarrassment Pendrell had previously gone through, Mulder spun around semi- gracefully in mid-chorus, to close the door to the office. He immediately came face-to-face with another person. Mulder stumbled backwards almost losing his balance. The man's eyes went wide with horror as he took in the sight of his partner leaning against the door frame with arms crossed, grinning from ear to ear. She was obviously amused. Mulder thought he would hyperventilate. Now he truly knew how Pendrell had felt. Except this was worse! She was actually here and she had heard it all! But instead of stopping the tape player, he took the serenade a step further. He recalled which part of the song was coming up. All at once, Mulder got down on his knees. "Dana, Dana… I get down on my knees for you…" His voice screeched and lost it's pitch. All the way coming down to the FBI building to retrieve her pot of African violets, Dana Scully had never guessed she'd be greeted by her partner's singing. Upon hearing his voice, she hurried down the hall hoping to catch him in the act. Then, when he had replaced "baby" in the song to her name while gazing at where she *would have been* sitting, her heart stopped. And now he was on his knees with his arms held open to her. they wondered simultaneously. He waited for a few seconds more unconsciously holding his breath. Scully looked down at her partner. Her grin turned even wider as she began to giggle profusely. She covered her mouth and walked past him to her desk. Mulder joked to himself. However, he knew he was kidding himself. He had hoped for more. He stood, turned off the machine and walked to his own desk. "I… ah… forgot my disk," Mulder said quietly. He picked it up and stared it for a moment. "Oh," she managed between giggles. "I forgot my violets. I wanted to take them home and put them in a bigger pot," More than a little embarrassed, Mulder wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear. He moved towards the door and turned to say goodbye. "I'll see you on Monday then," he said looking at the floor. "Mulder, wait. I'm sorry for laughing. I wasn't laughing at you," Scully spoke up. He turned around and looked at her. "Well, actually I was but it's a good thing. No one's ever got down on their knees and sang to me before," "Hard to believe, Scully." Mulder walked back into the office a few steps. "You've done this before, haven't you?" she smiled leaning against her desk. "Twice," he held up two fingers. "So? What happened?" she asked. "The first…," he shook his head. "Crashed and burned. It wasn't pretty," Mulder took a few more steps forward closing the gap between them. "And the second?" "I don't know. I'll tell you tomorrow, but it's looking good so far." He grinned slyly. Scully threw her head back slightly and chuckled. "You watched 'Top Gun' last night too, didn't you?" "Yeah. We could've watched it together." Mulder ran his fingers through his hair giving her a sheepish look. "I'm… kind of glad I came in today. I wasn't going to." It was her turn to be self-conscious. Mulder's confidence quickly returned and he became more bold. "After all you've seen and after all you've heard, I'm afraid I have no other choice. There can be no witnesses," He reached forward in a motion as if to put his hands around her neck. Scully laughed and slapped playfully his hands away. Mulder smiled hopefully. "So? Is it working?" he asked. "What?" Scully returned, confused. "Am I going to crash and burn?" Mulder inquired bravely. Scully looked at her partner. He was serious. "You think I've lost that lovin' feeling?" she teased, "C'mere flyboy…" She grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him close. ------------------------- Hi! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this short story. Drop me a note if you have the time! Have a nice day! ------------------------- Disclaimer: Characters and theme were borrowed from The X- Files belonging to Ten Thirteen Productions and Twentieth Century Fox. The key word here is "borrowed". No infringement of copyright is intended. For the love of the show… Excerpt and concept taken from the movie "Top Gun" and the song "You Lost that Loving Feeling" both without permission. No infringement intended. ----------------- All done… bye-bye!