"Him, who?"
Mulder walked into the office and picked his phone up off of Scully's desk.
"I was in the hall. I heard the last few sentences of your conversation."
"Anybody ever tell you that it isn't polite to eavesdrop?"
"Why'd you call him?"
Scully pushed away from her desk, sighing loudly. "Because I'm sick to death
of your face looking like that," she said, pointing at Mulder.
Mulder stared, still unable to fully believe that Scully would actually pick
up the phone and call him.
"What did you say to him?"
"In a nutshell, I told him to straighten this mess out with you or forget the
whole thing."
Mulder frowned down at the woman. "You...what business have you got
interfering in my life?"
"What life?" Scully shouted at him. "You're walking around mooning over the
likes of Alex Krycek for God's sake. You're moody, you're short-tempered,
you're..you're...aggravating the hell out of me!"
The frown turned to a wounded pout.
"What uh...what'd he have to say?"
"He said you've got a lot to get over."
Mulder sat on the edge of his desk and looked up at Scully through his lashes.
"Was that all?"
"Basically. I hung up after that."
Mulder's gaze dropped to the floor, and he chewed on the corner of his lip.
"So, who's going to make the first move?"
Mulder shrugged.
"Somebody's got to, Mulder, or this is going to go exactly where it's *been*
going, which is nowhere. From the way you've been acting lately, I would guess
that that's not what you want." Scully studied her partner for a while then
backed toward the door. "I got some stuff to do in the lab. I should be gone a
while."
Mulder felt his partner's retreat, and he heard the door close. He sat there
for some time then lifted a hand to the phone he'd placed on his own desk. He
pushed it around with two fingers for a bit then lifted it, letting his thumb
graze the buttons lightly. Before he could press any of them, he quickly set
the phone down and pushed himself to his feet, pacing the length of the office.
What to do, what to do.
He stopped, restlessly raking his fingers through his hair, and he looked
again at the phone.
Maybe Alex would call him. Since he'd just talked to Scully and all...
Or maybe he took her words to heart and decided to just call the whole thing
off.
But...he'd call to say that. Alex wouldn't just blow him off all together...
//Why not? You haven't been exactly open to an all out conversation.//
//Well, neither has he, really, even though he's said that we need to
talk...//
//*Stop*. Stop trying to assign blame. That'll get you *nowhere*.//
He stared at the phone for a while longer then inched over toward the desk
and picked it up. Placing his thumb on the speed dial number, he closed his
eyes, took a deep breath and pressed it.
One ring. Two...five.
He wasn't answering. Mulder didn't know whether to be glad, irritated or...
"Hello?"
His heart began to pound and he cleared his suddenly dry throat.
"Alex. It...it's me. Let's get together and talk...
First Move
by Aries
"Tell me what you said to him."
