Title: Dark Place in the Sun II: Doors and Windows
Author: Amatia
Email: violinst@pitnet.net
Category: V, A
Rating: PG
Archiving: Gossamer and The Ferret Cage. All others, please ask.
Disclaimer: I've forgotten it lately...Spender and Scully belong to 1013,
as if we all didn't know that.
Summary: Set a week after "Just Call Me Jeff", Scully telephones Spender to
ask him to dinner.
Note: Just a little snippet. I honestly set out to have them actually go to
dinner in this story, but...I tend to write too many car scenes, so I'm
eliminating it and putting the dinner scene in DPS III.


***

"Dark Place in the Sun II: Doors and Windows"
by Amatia

	I returned to work on Monday hoping to hear something about my
mother's disappearance, but there was no news. I felt slightly dejected,
but the same situation had happened so many times before that I felt almost
numb to it. My mother's absence from my life had been reoccurring, and with
disappearance and return I got more and more stressed.

	But all in all, it was a normal Monday. It was a normal week. The
research department moved at it's usual pace, and I got sent out
occassionally to validate information. I didn't come into contact with
either Scully or Mulder, and I guessed that they were out in the field,
investigating an X-File.

	Friday evening I arrived home, planning on my usual no-mom
Friday-night dinner of either a frozen dinner, or drive-thru Taco Bell. I'd
just hung up my suit jacket and taken off my tie when the phone rang. I
sidestepped a box of books, and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

	"Jeff? This is Sc...Dana."

	"Hi," I replied, rather shocked that she'd called. "Were you out of
DC this week? I didn't see you around the building."

	"Mulder and I were out of town, in Delaware," she said, sighing.
"Strange case - blind woman, psychic connections, bloody murders - but all
in all, a typical X-File. Anyway, I was calling to see if maybe you wanted
to go out to dinner tonight? My mother and I usually go - if I'm not
working - but she's visiting my brother Charlie in California for a week."
I could tell she was slightly nervous by the way she was talking. "So what
do you say?"

	It took less than a nanosecond to make up my mind. "I say yes.
Fridays I used to spend with my mother, but since she's..."

	"Has AD Skinner found out anything new?"

	"No. It's my best guess that he's under the impression that since
Mulder has opened an X-File on my mother, Mulder is going to be the one who
will keep tabs."

	"Well, knowing Mulder, he think's Skinner going to try and keep
tabs, since Skinner's your AD, too," Scully replied. "So, where do you want
to go for dinner? I'm in the mood for something oriental."

	"I know of a great little Chinese place just outside Arlington," I
replied. "That's not too far for you, is it?"

	"No, not at all. Should I pick you up, and you can direct me?"

	"Sure."

	I could almost hear her smile over the line. "I'll see you in
twenty minutes, ok? I've got to get out of these Special Agent clothes."

	"Twenty minutes it is."

	"See you then," Scully said, and hung up.

	I replaced the receiver, looked down at my after-work running
sweats, and decided it would be a good idea to change. I went into the
bedroom, and found jeans and a sweater in the dresser. Tossing them on the
bed, I went into the bathroom to shave.

	Fifteen minutes later, I was on the phone with the restaurant,
arranging  to have a bouquet of flowers at the table for Scully. She'd
sounded tired on the phone, and since she was driving, I figured it was a
nice thing to do. The restaurant owners sold flowers in the store they
owned that was next door, and they were great about going an extra mile for
regular patrons like myself, who were there probably once a week. I hung up
the phone, thinking that at least I wouldn't be eating alone for once.

	The buzzer rang, and I hit the intercom. "Come on up."

	I opened the door, and went to get my jacket from the bedroom. As I
grabbed my almost-forgotten wallet, I heard her footsteps enter the
apartment, then pause. "Jeff?"

	"Just getting my jacket," I called, picking it up from the bed and
walking out into the living room.

	Scully smiled at me. "All set?"

	"Yes." I noticed she looked a little rough around the edges, and
guessed that the case had been a draining one. "You?"

	"Car's downstairs," she replied.

	"Great."

	I followed her out of my apartment, locking the door behind me. And
wondering if I'll ever voice that subconsious fear that's always telling me
to keep my doors and windows locked, no matter where I am.

	<end>

	Did you get that doors and windows thing? No, LH, no bricks! I know
you hate Sc/Sp! Feedback worshipped at violinst@pitnet.net



violinst@pitnet.net
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