Tight Places (G)

What was that noise?  And quit shaking the damn bed!  The crash is what finally made him open his eyes.  Damn!  A ceiling tile had crashed to the floor, what the . . . earthquake?  Shit, that’s what this was!

He was on his feet now, fully awake.  The crash in the next room spun him in that direction.  Scully?  Scully!  The connecting door wasn’t locked, it never was anymore when they traveled, but it wouldn’t open.  The frame was warped and something was in the way.  “Scully!”  No answer and no time to think, just get in there, now!

He forced his way through, he needed more light.  He should have grabbed his flashlight.  Well, her curtains had fallen from the window, at least there was moon light.  The air was full of dust, where the hell was the bed?  He waved his hand in front of him; at least he was all the way in the room now.  The bed, oh god, it was covered with the armoire that had stood against the wall.  If she was under it . . .

He had hold of it now and actually lifted it from the bed, shoving it to the side.  “Scully!”

“Here, Mulder I’m here!”  She was mostly under the bed, but trapped between the bed and the wall.  She hadn’t been under it.  For a minute his world swam, then he was moving again.  There was a little bit of room; she was kind of in the corner.  He crawled in and using his legs shoved the bed away a little bit to make certain she wasn’t trapped.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.  You?”

“Yeah.  Whose idea was it to come to California?”

“Yours Mulder.”

“Thanks.  Can you get out?”  He was trying to move the bed a little more.  Hey, the shaking had stopped.  When?  He hadn’t noticed. 

Finally he had enough room to climb in beside her.  “You’re bleeding.”  She was, from her side and her pajama top was torn.

“It’s okay.  Just a scratch.  I woke up to see that thing headed toward me and I just had time to roll.  It caught me as I went over the side.  I think I’ll start sleeping on the other side of the bed.”

“Nope, that’s my side.  Don’t get used to it.”  He winked at her and she raised her eyebrow.  Trust him to throw in an innuendo now.  She shook her head.

“So, can we get out?”

“I don’t see how right now.  It looks like the front of the building collapsed.  We’re only getting light from the top left of your window.  Something’s blocking the door and the rest of the window.  I’m not sure I can move that piece of furniture again and unfortunately now it’s blocking the door back to my room.”

“Great.  So what do we do?”

“We wait for rescue, or at least more light.  Being in the corner gives us two walls to support whatever has fallen.  We’re probably in the safest place in the room.”  He shifted to give himself more space and she saw him wince.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Mulder?”  That tone, hadn’t his mother used that tone when she just assumed he was lying to her?

“I may have strained my back moving that armoire.”

“Oh god, I hadn’t realized.  You moved that thing all by yourself?”  She was looking over at the massive piece of furniture smashed against the wall of her room.  It had held the TV, which was now in pieces on her bed, and the drawers.  Those clothes were probably unsalvageable.

“I thought you were . . . “ He shrugged and winced again.

She melted at his cavalier attitude.  You were in trouble; I moved heaven and earth, what’s the big deal?  He’d done it for her before.  “Let me check you.  Where does it hurt?”  No reason for him to know what his actions meant to her, right?

She had her hands under his t-shirt, feeling his skin for abrasions, kneading his back muscles to relieve the pain.  He groaned and moved away from her hand.  When she followed he allowed it.  “You planned this didn’t you?”

“What?”

“All this is just an excuse to get inside my t-shirt, isn’t it?  Go ahead and admit it Scully.”

“Yes, Mulder.”  She continued to massage his back.  “I planned this whole earthquake just to get you in here so I could attack your bod.”  He looked around at her, she usually wouldn’t play; this was nice.  She wasn’t really smiling at him, but her eyes were.

“Took you long enough to admit it.”  He settled himself better, moving some rubble out from under him and beginning to enjoy her ministrations.

“Is that better?”

“Ummmmm.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”  She said dryly but couldn’t help but be pleased at his reaction.  “You know, you should have used a little caution coming in here.  The room could have been gone.”

“You were in here.” 

Was that all he was going to say?  Like that was an answer.  “Mulder?”

He shifted again so that she could reach another section of his back.  “Scully I only had to come through one door this time.”

She fell silent.  He was right in a way.  She had only been next door, not off in the Antarctic or some of the other places he’d gone to find her and bring her to safety.  He did that a lot, didn’t he?  Wherever she was he came and got her, not allowing anything to stop him, or even slow him down.  Her fingers stopped and he squirmed reminding her to continue.

She did, but her mind wasn’t on it now.  She was reliving portions of her history with this man.  How many times had he burst in to save her?  Antarctica might have been the most dramatic, but it was only one in a long line.  Eugene Tooms, Donnie Pfaster, Schnauz, hell even Eddie Van Blundht. 

Her face colored at that.  He’d rescued her even when she didn’t know she needed rescuing.  They’d never talked about that, just the snippet of a conversation in the hall after Mulder had visited Eddie in prison.  She’d told him he wasn’t a loser, but he hadn’t bought it and nothing had changed between them.  What if she had kissed Mulder, or at least Mulder’s face?  The world wouldn’t have come to an end.  Of course what he had seen was devastating enough to both of them.

“Scully?  You okay?”  She’d gone silent.  “Are you still bleeding?”  She could be getting spacey from lack of blood. 

“Uh, sorry.  What?”

“Let me see where you’re cut.”

“Mulder, it was just a scratch.”

“Let me see it.”  His hand reached for her pajama top and for a second she thought of pulling back.  She stopped herself.  He was worried about her, she needed to relieve him, reassure him that she truly was okay.

He lifted the torn fabric up away from her skin.  It was a scratch, but a bad one and still seeping blood a little.  Not enough to be dangerous, if they got out of here in a reasonable amount time, but it should be looked at.  “Here.”  He pulled his t-shirt off over his head.

“Mulder, I don’t need that.”

“You do it, or I will.”  When she still hesitated, he carefully wiped the blood from the wound, being extremely careful not to lift her top to expose more of her breast than was already exposed.  He then pressed the soft cotton against the wound to halt the bleeding.  She hissed slightly.  “You okay?”

“Yeah.  Thanks.”

They both fell silent again.  He was a little surprised he gotten away with that.  She so rarely allowed him to look after her.  She usually had to be unconscious.  He shuddered slightly at that thought and he felt her hand creep into his.

“Thanks.”

“You already said that.”  He brought his shoulder closer, almost touching hers.  She moved the rest of the way, bringing them into contact.

“Not often enough.”  She said softly and they were quiet again.

It was getting lighter outside and the sounds of movement could be heard, sirens in the distance.  Scully found herself hoping they’d take their time, she was fine, he was fine.  The accommodations were a little tight, but right now, that felt kind of good.