From: Erinstone1@aol.com

Shrink - Chapter 14
ErinStone1@AOL.com
Rated: R
Spoilers: none
Category: Scully/Slash
Archive: Yes-please make me aware of any final posts to a site.
Feedback: Any/all is welcome
Disclaimer: Scully and Mulder are not mine. I make no profit from this story.

Summary:  Scully decides she needs to take responsibility for her unhappiness.





Scully stood in her shower and let hot water run down her back. She felt her 
shoulder muscles relax slowly and turned to rinse her hair.

A few minutes later she stood before her bed and surveyed the clothes she'd 
laid out.

'Why am I having so much trouble with this?' She was thinking. 'Just pick 
something.' 

It was only 2 in the afternoon but Scully had tossed and turned from noon on 
after only a brief sleep. She'd finally lost her patience and just gotten up. 
She was anxious and her stomach was giving her trouble. It felt like she'd 
had too much caffeine, although she'd had none since she'd been home. She was 
jittery and hungry but nothing sounded good to her. She'd stood in front of 
her CD player for ten full minutes and finally just turned on the radio. She 
tripped over what could only have been the pattern of her rug. Moments ago in 
the bathroom she'd dropped her blush twice in a row. It shattered on the 
second trip to the floor, sending rose colored powder across the tile. And 
now she stood in her underwear and bra in front of a bed covered in clothes.

And she just couldn't decide.

In short, she was a mess.

She picked up a deep blue sweater and slipped it over her head. She turned 
and looked at herself in the mirror. 'Neck line is too low.' She pulled it 
off and grabbed a white sweatshirt, slipping it quickly over her head. 
'Better.' She picked a pair of jeans off the bed and slipped into them. She 
then grabbed her running shoes. She held them in her hands for a second 
before opening her closet door and lobbing them in. She peeled off the white 
sweatshirt and grabbed the blue sweater. She turned it right-side-out and 
slipped it back on. She pulled on a navy pair of suede loafers and looked 
again in the mirror.

She tilted her head to the side as she regarded her reflection. She sighed 
heavily and walked to the kitchen grabbing her bag and keys, badge and 
weapon. She slipped her trench coat on and walked out to her car.


When Scully arrived at the hospital Marlene's doctors were conferencing. She 
made her way quietly into the room and listened to their care strategy for 
Marlene.

She'd been stabilized over night and they'd ran a series of brain scans and 
other tests on her. So far each had come back normal. They were toying with 
the idea of reviving her the next morning. 

******************************************************************************
*


She walked into the police station with a smile playing at the corners of her 
mouth. Detective Johns approached her and couldn't help but smile back, "You 
know sumthin' I don't?"

"Marlene is out of the woods. Her doctors think they'll be able to revive her 
tomorrow morning."

"Well that's good news. You drive by here just to tell me that?"

"Actually I need some more information on Mr. Pelt. I'm curious about his 
other assault victims, the doctors. Specifically I'd like to know what kind 
of assaults he perpetrated."

"You mean sexual or not sexual?"

"Yes. That and how he got to them. I'd like to be prepared for anything."

"Impressive Agent Scully. You even approach the low-skilled jobs like a 
professional. You're doing more research than some of my best guys do."

She smiled at him as he ushered her back into his office. He filled her in on 
all of Pelt's finer points and preferences. When he was finished she'd filled 
twelve pages of her small notebook.

He walked her out to her car, "By the way Agent, I've scrounged up three more 
units. They're posted along with the original all around Dr. Aris' warehouse. 
She's got the best security I've got to offer."

Scully reached for his hand. "Thank you."

"No problem", he looked embarrassed at her gratitude. "Guess you don't need 
to be inside at all now, since we've got the outside covered from every 
angle."

She gave him a half smile, "No· guess not."

"Well, give Dr. Aris my best and I'll be in touch."

"Thanks again Detective. You're golden."

He waved her off, "It's nothing." She watched him walk back into the station, 
his hands in his pockets.

**************************************************

It took her a while to locate Gail and Agent Phelps in the warehouse. She 
finally caught site of the back of the Agent's head through the greenhouse 
windows and walked out on to the deck. 

Agent Phelps stood watching as Gail slung what looked like gray mud onto some 
kind of small planter.

"What's going on here?" Scully asked.

Agent Phelps spun on his heel and faced her, surprised. His cheeks reddened 
slightly and he pointed to where Gail sat on her heels smiling.

"Dr. Aris is ahhh·"

"Agent Phelps needed a fountain." Gail said, still smiling.

"Really?" Scully looked at him sternly.

"I insisted." Gail said quickly.

"It's just a little one." The Agent added, as if it would help.

Scully clasped her hands, "Can I talk to you two inside please?"

Gail stood, smirking, and wiped her hands on her jeans. Gray finger marks 
were already drying on her ass. As Scully walked behind them she had to 
stifle a laugh.

She pointed to the front door and the other two headed toward it. Once there 
she addressed them both.

"Agent Phelps, I'd like to thank you for your service. Your assignment here 
is wrapped up."

He misunderstood Scully's statement to be an admonishment and he stammered, 
"Agent Scully, at no time was Dr. Aris in any danger·"

"It's not that at all Phelps. She's covered on the outside. She no longer 
needs residence protection."

He looked relieved. 

Gail spoke up, "Agent Scully, did something happen?"

Scully shushed her and gave her a look that said 'later'. Gail shut up.

Agent Phelps didn't notice the exchange between the two women. He turned to 
Gail and shook her hand, "Dr. Aris, it was a pleasure."

"Same here Frank. I'll send the fountain to you at work as soon as it's done."

His face brightened, "That'd be· really great."

"Good bye Agent Phelps." Scully added as she opened the door.

"Oh yeah, bye now." He waved back toward them awkwardly and Scully shut the 
door behind him.

"Frank?" She said sarcastically, turning to Gail.

"What could I do? He was in my house, he was drinking my coffee·"

Scully sighed.

"You look great."

And then she blushed. 

"That sweater is the perfect color for you."

She mumbled a 'thanks' and walked further into the room.

"So why'd you shush me?"

Scully smiled, "Marlene is much better. The doctors think they may be able to 
revive her as early as tomorrow morning."

Gail didn't speak. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms 
around Scully softly, pressing her cheek against Scully's as she did so. It 
took a couple seconds for Scully to adjust to the feeling of having Gail 
wrapped around her. She slowly brought her hands up from her sides and laid 
them tentatively around Gail's waist. She could feel wetness on her cheek and 
she knew that Gail was crying. She squeezed her a little tighter and felt the 
other woman's warm breath in her ear. Then a soft 'thank you Scully' 
whispered warm against her face. Scully opened her mouth slightly and closed 
her eyes. 

Every feeling she'd had in her apartment came back to her ten fold and she 
felt her hands begin to shake. She pressed them tighter to Gail to try and 
stop the trembling. Thinking that movement might disguise the shaking she ran 
both hands up to Gail's shoulders and back down again. 

Gail shuddered in her arms and Scully thought with alarm that she was 
sobbing. When she pulled back to look at her it didn't appear that Gail was 
crying at all anymore. She looked· 

Scully felt her stomach react and tried to distance herself some. "Shouldn't 
this be a happy moment?" She said it in an effort to lighten the intensity.  
Something seemed to be building in the space between them and it was making 
Scully too warm... too uncomfortable.

Gail smiled, "Oh, it is. I'm so thankful to you Scully. I don't think Marlene 
would have gotten the care that she did had you not been there to orchestrate 
it."

"Well·"

Gail's train of thought changed. "Hey."

"What?"

"You get to go home now don't you?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about that. I think I'd like to stay anyway."

Gail gave her a confused look. 

"I have a lot of faith in the four Georgetown policemen posted outside but 
I'd still like to remain as the last line of defense inside. That is, if you 
don't mind."

Gail looked surprised, "Not in the least."

"I think I should just plan on staying here all weekend. If that's okay?"

Gail nodded.

"I can sleep on the couch."

"You mean you'll be here all of the time?"

Scully felt embarrassed, like she'd jumped over an invisible line somewhere. 
"Yeah, it'd be more in a 'friend' capacity and not so much as an Agent."

"What about your life Scully?"

Scully sighed. "If I had one I'd still want to be doing exactly the same 
thing."

Gail smiled broadly at her. 

"Since I don't, well, I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Will you need to go home? Pick up some things?"

"Yeah. I'll call an officer up from outside to stay with you. I should be 
back in about an hour."

"Will you let me make you dinner?"

Scully's brow came up, "Yes. I will."

"Good."

*****************************************************************

Dinner was in the oven when Scully returned and Gail had poured them both a 
healthy glass of wine.

They settled into a comfortable silence together in the living room.

Scully sat on one side of the couch watching Gail on the other as she read. 
Every now and then the blonde would run a hand through her hair or push her 
glasses up. She seemed unaware that Scully was studying her.

"So, why did Vulgarity dump you?"

Startled, Gail looked up from her book. "What?"

"Vulgarity. Why'd she dump you?"

Gail laughed. "Her name was Peg."

Scully smiled and shrugged a shoulder, "Whatever."

"My god you're as bad as Kevin."

Scully raised her brows as if to say... 'Well?'

Gail sighed and put her book down on her lap. She pulled her glasses off and 
contemplated Scully's question.

"I guess because I never told her I loved her."

"Oh." Scully was a little taken aback by Gail's bluntness.

"Can't blame her really."

"No, I guess not. Were you together long?"

"I don't know, what do you consider long?"

"More than a year."

"A year and a half."

"Hmmm."

"What's that? What's 'hmmmm' mean?"

Scully shook her head and turned her attention back to the book she had in 
her own lap, "Nothing."

Gail sat up on her knees, "That's not FAIR Scully."

Scully looked up at her smiling innocently, "What?" 

Gail tipped her head, "You know what."

"Why would you be with a woman for a year and a half if you didn't love her?"

Gail smiled. "I never said I didn't love her. I just said I never =told= her 
that I loved her."

"That's just vocabulary."

Gail chuckled and looked into her eyes. "You know what I like about you 
Scully?"

Scully gave her a suspicious look. "I'm all ears."

"I like that you're smart."

Her eyes softened and she smiled self consciously. "Where did that come from?"

"I was thinking about you today while the Huey was here."

"Agent Phelps."

"Whatever." Gail flipped her hand. "I was thinking about how smart you are 
and what you must have had to go through to get that smart."

Scully felt like a punch line might be coming, "Really."

Gail nodded, "Yeah. Really."

Scully felt herself flush. 

"Was it hard on you? The academy?"

"No harder than it was on anyone else."

"My, what a diplomatic answer." Gail sat back against the arm of the couch. 
"I wish I believed you. I don't though Scully. I think you probably went 
through hell." Gail was regarding her seriously now.

"I thought you weren't my therapist anymore." 

"I'm not."

"Then why are you trying to make me cry?"

Gail looked like it had occurred to her suddenly what she'd been doing and 
she felt immediate remorse, "Oh Scully, I'm not. I just...  I want you to be 
happy."

Scully felt her eyes fill with tears.

"I'm so sorry. I just slip into a mode and... please don't cry." Gail moved 
closer to Scully's side of the couch. She smiled at her softly, "I really 
hate it when you cry."

Scully laughed lightly through her tears. She swatted Gail on the arm, "Then 
you've gotta quit doing that 'I feel your pain' thing."

"Ok, ok. I don't feel your pain. Swear to god. I feel fine..." Gail sucked 
her bottom lip into her mouth and squinted her eyes...

Scully's eyes went wide "Hey."

"What?"

"You completely flipped that conversation around Dr. Aris. We were talking 
about you and the next thing I know I'm in tears."

Gail cringed a little, "You caught that huh?"

"It took me a minute but yes, dammit, I caught that."

The alarm on the stove went off and Gail jumped up. "Oop - dinner."

'Weasel' Scully thought as she watched her jog into the kitchen. 

-end-