Missing Her (PG)

Frohike answered the knock and eyed his friend.  He opened the door wider, “Come on in, Mulder.”

Mulder entered silently.

“Any news?”  Frohike had to ask.  Mulder shook his head. 

Langly looked up as they entered the main room.  He looked Mulder over as well, then looked over at Frohike, but didn’t speak.

“Did I hear the door?” Byers asked as he stepped out of the kitchen.  “Mulder.  It’s good to see you.  We just had a pizza delivered.  Let me get you some.”

“Thanks.  I’m not hungry.”

“How about a beer at least.”

Mulder shrugged and took a seat.   Byers looked at his two friends.  Frohike who was behind Mulder shook his head.

Byers returned quickly with a plate of pizza and a beer.  Mulder took the beer but ignored the pizza.

“Mulder, you need to eat something,” Frohike said looking down at him.

“Not hungry.”

Langly decided to get to the meat of the matter then, “Do you know anything more about Scully?”

Mulder winced at the name and Byers shook his head.  “No.  No leads.”

“What about your partner?” Langly drew back at the look of fury in Mulder’s eyes.
 

“Krycek is not my partner.  He’s disappeared, no trace so far.”  He took a long swig from the bottle and went silent again.

His friends were quiet then.  They hadn’t seen him but once since Scully had vanished.  He’d been avoiding them.  The last thing Byers wanted was for him to leave.  Mulder needed someone, even if he couldn’t talk about it.

“Have you been out of town?  We tried to call - “ Byers started.

“I just got back from LA.”

“What kind of case?”

“I heard something about vampires out there.  Was that the case?” Langly asked, trying for some conversation.

“Murder.  It’s over.”  He went silent again, obviously not wanting to talk.

Frohike flipped on the TV and took a seat on the couch near Mulder.  Langly turned back to his computer.  Byers returned to the kitchen after a glance at Frohike.

It wasn’t long before he returned.  “You need another beer?” Byers looked over toward Mulder and saw Frohike with his finger to his lips.  Mulder had fallen asleep in the chair.  Frohike took the mostly empty bottle from Mulder’s limp hand and rose.

Byers met him at Langly’s computer.  “He looks awful.”

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Frohike admitted.

“We should’ve known.  We should’ve forced him to talk to us,” Byers whispered.

“I thought he thought she was a spy with a stick up her ass,” Langly remarked.

“Where‘ve you been?” Frohike whispered fiercely.  “She’s important to him, more than any other partner they’ve foisted on him.”

Byers nodded.  “Yeah.  I thought at first it was because she was female and so tiny, but that’s not it.  She means something to him.  He respects her, especially when she challenges him.  Frohike’s right, she’s important.”

“I think he realized how important after they broke them up.  When she followed him down to Arecibo and rescued him, he was hooked and landed.”  Frohike shook his head.

“No, it was before that,” Byers corrected him.  “Remember when he brought her over here that first time?  He wanted us to meet her, he was proud of her; of the fact she was with him.  I hadn’t seen him smile like that before.”

 “Is there anything we can do?”

Langly shrugged.  “Like what?  He said himself there’re no leads.”

“We can be here for him.  He came to us; we’ll have to give him whatever he’ll accept.”

“Did he eat anything?”

“Nope, and I think this may be the first sleep he’s gotten in days.”  Byers sighed looking over at Mulder again.  As he watched, Mulder jerked but didn’t wake.

They were silent, watching him for a moment.  He seemed to relax back into sleep and Frohike looked back at Byers.  “We have to do something.”

“I think the only thing we can do is to be here when he needs to be around someone.  At least he’s working again,” Byers sighed.

“He needs her back.  I don’t think he’ll be whole again until he finds her,” Frohike shook his head.

“Let him sleep.  At least he’s not alone and whatever we can do . . .”