Dozens of Pieces By Laynie1121@aol.com

Rated: R for language.

Disclaimer: We all know that I don't own them. But since it's necessary, Mulier and Scaly belong to FOX and Chris Carter and 1013.

Feedback: Of course! It lets me know if I should write more! But I warn you, flames are sent to my paper shredder and never heard from again.

Author's Notes: This story and it's follow-up are the only dark/non-MSR fics that I've ever written. It was a wild ride, and I hope you like it.

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It was a very tense moment in the basement office. Usually, the air cackled with energy between them, but not this type of energy.

It was their fourth heated argument this week. The arguments always started over nothing; a un-shared idea, an extreme possibility from one side and total skepticism from the other, but this argument topped the rest.

Dana Scully was bound to get in the final words and she knew what to say to set him off.

"Sure...Fine...Whatever."

Those words were finished off with an icy stare and a smug smile.

She knew the words angered him...would anger him...but not to this magnitude.
"Damnit Dana!" he exclaimed, his eyes filled with fury.

She expected him to stomp out of the office to cool off. But he caught her completely off guard.

He grabbed the closest object her could find, a stapler, and hurtled it across the room. It slammed into the far wall, shattering into dozens of pieces.

Scully looked up, startled by the sound, and watched as he picked up a photo frame. The frame held a picture of the two of them together, making a funny face for the camera. It too, soon joined the stapler by the wall, on the floor.

"Why do you always shut me out?" he asked in a rough voice.

Scully forced an impassive look to cross her features and didn't answer. Mulder finally looked at her. When she looked at him, he was advancing towards her.

Before she could react, he grabbed her arm and yanked her out of her chair, twirling her around roughly and slamming her against a few file cabinets.

She gritted her teeth and winced slightly as the handles dug into her back and his fingers dug into her arms.

"You're hurting me." she growled.

"Good," he sneered. "Maybe I should for all the times you hurt me."

"All the times..." she stuttered. "What about all the times you've ditched me or ignored me? I'm not the only one at fault here!" she exclaimed incredulously.

"I was trying to...I thought I was protecting you."

"Bullshit, Mulder. That's complete bullshit and you know it." she said with an errie calmness to her voice. She roughly pulled herself from out of his grasp and before she sat down said, "Go to hell."

She had delivered the last blow. He looked at her one last time and picked up his jacket, walking out of their office.

Scully sat there for a few moments in silence, reliving the past scene in her mind. Then, without warning, she let out a choked sob and buried her face in her arms.