Shaven (PG-13)

She was already annoyed, no, pissed, about being out here.  Seeing Mulder so energized by this case was, oh hell, it was scaring her.  She had brought him into this, had convinced him to look into this case.  It was her fault.  Mulder had been . . . content in that little office in their home.  Okay, maybe less than content but resigned.  Shit, that wasn't enough for Mulder and she knew it.  Hadn't that been at least part of why she had allowed Drummy to get to her.  Yes, but an agent was missing.  That's what she needed to focus on.

She hadn't been able to help the twinge she had felt when Agent Whitney had turned from her to speak to Mulder in the FBI war room.  Mulder was the one they wanted, the one they searched out.  It was completely understandable.

But this . . . the woman had reached up to touch his face.  Scully could tell it was involuntary; she had wanted to touch the smoothness of his cheek.  She hadn't been able to resist even with Scully standing here beside him.  Okay, Whitney didn't necessarily know they were a couple.  It wasn't branded on their foreheads and they didn't wear rings.

She had managed to keep her face bland, she thought, hoped.  Hell, the woman hadn't been looking at her anyway.  Others had dismissed her as a full partner to this man in the past.  She'd barely accepted it then, now, now she was more than a full partner.  He was hers in every way and this . . . woman might need to be informed of that fact soon.

Did Mulder realize how casually he had brushed the woman's hand aside when she reached for him?  He wasn't interested in her, Scully could see that.  He barely acknowledged her as an agent at that point, much less a woman.  There was no reason to worry.  Still, they had gotten dressed and rushed to her side in this frigid night when she had called.

There was no need for jealousy.  She knew that without a doubt, but it still bothered her.  There had been no competition for his attention for such a long time.  Was that what was bothering her now?  Was she that petty?

This was a case, with all the overtones of an X-File.  That's why he had been requested.  She was only here because Mulder had asked for her help.  The FBI didn't need or want her.  Mulder thought he did.  He'd only taken the first meeting with them because she had agreed to go with him. 

They were together, together as they had never been when they had been working together, assigned as partners, growing to be friends and more.  The home they had created for themselves was different than the one she had dreamed of as a child, but it suited them, or it had.

Why did she feel such dread?