Title: Happiness: Cold, Flu, and Ailments of the Spirit Author: shawntaw Category: MSR, Au Rating: G Disclaimer: I don't own the x-files characters. I think we may have established that by now, don't you? The fact that I don't have any money and am making no money from this has, unfortunately, been established as well. *L* I also have no claims to DayQuil and/or NyQuil. One helps me during the day, but makes me slightly dizzy. The other knocks me out COLD. I don't even dream. I ain't kiddin'... Summary: "Mulder," she began in her warning voice, "go home and take care of yourself. You want to be at full strengh for the New Year's get-together with my family...trust me. Bill's going to be there." Feedback makes me very happy at shawntaw@hotmail.com :) TO DANIELA LABOD WHO HAS MADE A WEBSITE OF MY STORIES: www.geocities.com/corran_14776/shawntaw.html Thank you.:) ******************************************************* Scully paused outside the basement bathroom once more and considered knocking. The sound of deep coughing within practically vibrated the door. Her forehead creased. "Mulder?" More coughing was followed by throat-clearing. "Huh?" "You o.k.?" Mulder hacked. She heard him clear his throat again and then spit. "I have a cold. No big deal." She heard him blow his nose vigorously. "Mulder, maybe you should go home. It could be the flu, you know." The door opened. A very miserable, rumpled and stuffy-nosed Mulder filled the doorway. "Scully, I'm fine." The Queen of "I'm fine" flinched at his use of the phrase. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Scully, that was a low blow," he dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he walked past her into their office, "but I really will be o.k." She followed him back to his desk and stood before it, arms crossed, regarding him. "Mulder," she began in her warning voice, "go home and take care of yourself. You want to be at full strengh for the New Year's get- together with my family...trust me. Bill's going to be there." Mulder took a swipe at his red, larger-than-normal nose with his hankerchief. "Yeah, I know," he said, stuffing the cloth back into his pocket, "Does he know yet?" Scully traced the top of his desk with her index finger, studying it intently. "No, only my mother. I-I wanted us to tell the rest of my family together." Mulder made a noise somewhere between a snort and a sniffle. "What?" Scully looked up at him, eyebrows raised. "You mean you want don't want to tell Bill by yourself. You're chicken, Scully, pure and simple." Her eyes sparked for a moment, but suddenly turned amused. "Fine. Do you blame me?" Once again Mulder snorted, this time in agreement. He reached across the mess atop his desk and pulled a tissue out of a box there. "Man, I hate colds," he said, blowing his nose lustily. Scully came around the desk and leaned over him. "Thinking of taking advantage of me while I'm weak, Agent Scully?" She ignored him and continued to lean toward him. She brushed his hair aside and pressed her lips to his forehead. They froze like that for a moment, he enjoying the feel of her cool lips on his forehead and she wondering how he could still function with a fever that high. Scully pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. "Mulder, it IS the flu, isn't it? Why are you even here today?" Mulder studied her eyes for a moment. Scully enjoyed the shifting hazel as he considered what to say. "I didn't want you to think I was ditching you on the dinner with your family. I thought I could just take some medicine and keep going," he said softly. "Mulder, if you're sick, you're sick," she smiled at him, "I understand." She closed the gap between them and kissed him, his fevered lips burning hers. "Scully, you'll get sick," Mulder protested against her kisses. She pulled away, smiling again. "I'm taking you home and taking care of you," she said firmly, but gently. "That won't look obvious at all," Mulder said, by neccesity breaking the spell by reaching for another tissue,"you and I leaving together to take the day off." Scully stood again and leaned a hip on the side of Mulder's desk as he, again, blew his nose. "Skinner won't care and no one else will notice. They'll just think we're going on a case," she pointed out. Mulder seemed to consider for a moment. "Fine," he said, standing wearily,"I give up. Let's go." They grabbed their coats and headed for the door. **************************************************************** On the elevator, Mulder leaned against the cool metal of the doors. "Ahhhh," he moaned. Scully patted his arm sympathetically. "Damn!" she suddenly cursed. "What?" Mulder lifted his head to look at her. "We forgot to tell Skinner." Mulder returned to pressing his forehead against the cool metal, "We'll stop on our way out. Push his floor." Scully reached over and pushed the appropriate button. ********************************************************************** Mulder and Scully sat on the couch in Skinner's reception area. Kimberly tried not to stare at them. Mulder looked terrible. He kept getting up every five seconds and snitching a tissue from the box on her desk and blowing his nose. He tried to cough quietly into his hankerchief without success. He sounded as though he were going to hock up a lung. Scully kept patting him on his knee and then pulling her hand away as though embarrassed to be caught mothering him. Kimberly smiled sypathetically at Mulder and came around to the front of her desk. She picked up the tissue box and brought it to him on the couch. "Here, Agent Mulder. Why don't you just keep this with you," Kimberly said, handing it to him. "Thanks, Kimberly," Mulder smiled up at her as he took the proffered box. Kimberly leaned close to Scully, "Are you taking him home?" Scully nodded, "If Skinner doesn't mind." "He won't. There isn't anything big going on right now. Everyone else," Kim waved her hand toward the hallway, "will just think you're on a case." Scully turned and raised an "I-told-you-so" eyebrow at Mulder. He didn't even rise to the bait. He simply blinked at her in misery. Both of her eyebrows went up at that. She reached over and felt his forehead. He was even hotter than before. "You don't have to tell me. I'm worse," Mulder said wearily. "We need to get you something for your fever. You have anything at home?" "I might have some DayQuil or NyQuil or something." Suddenly, Skinner's door opened and several agents walked out, talking. "We'll get right on that-" "Get the numbers from-" "Don't forget to requisition the-" The agents stopped their chatter as they came upon Kimberly and Scully hovering over Mulder. "What's the matter, Agent Mulder?" It was Agent Lindstrom. A nice guy and not really a big fan of the rumor mill. *Thank God. I really don't feel up to the whole "Spooky" schtick right now.* Mulder tried to smile at him gratefully. "These two ladies seem a little concerned that I might be getting sick," Mulder shook his head in mock resignation, "Women. What can you do?" He said jokingly. Scully and Kimberly shot him a look almost in unison. The three agents standing before him tried not to snicker. "Well, if you are sick, I'd say you're in good hands," Lindstrom said with a friendly smile at the three of them. The agents continued on their way, chatting about their case as they exited into the hallway. Skinner stood in his office doorway, considering the three of them. "Mulder, if you're not here to ask for the day off, you should be." He nodded and began coughing uncontrollably into his hankerchief. Skinner cringed, "For goodness' sake, Scully, get him home before he infects the whole building." Scully stood, pulling Mulder by the arm. "You heard the man, Mulder. Come on." "Bossy," Mulder mumbled as she pulled him out the door. *************************************************************** For once, Scully had to slow her pace to stay even with Mulder. He was walking deliberately, as though if he didn't concentrate he would fall over. "Your place or mine, Scully?" Mulder said as he stopped in the parking garage and waited for her to choose. "Come on, Mulder," she said, pulling him by the elbow,"I'll stay at your apartment where all your stuff is." He went willingly with her to her car. ********************************************************************* *Ok. New information. Mulder can be a big baby when he's sick.* Scully looked over to where Mulder leaned against the passenger side window, whining. "I'm cold," he said blearily, "Do you have the air conditioner on?" "No, Mulder," she answered again, "For the third time, I do not have the air conditioner on. And before you ask, I'm sure. You have a chill because of your fever." He held his hand over a vent as though he didn't believe her and pulled his coat tighter around him. Scully watched him where he was slumped in his seat out of the corner of her eye. "Mulder, I think I liked you better when you were trying to be brave." "I've given up bravery. Its my New Year's resolution," he cracked wise and then coughed suddenly, clouding up the section of window he leaned against. Scully smirked. Now that Mulder discovered he didn't have to put on a brave face for Scully, he was in full "I'm-sick-and-helpless" mode. "We're almost there, Mulder," she said soothingly and reached over and put her hand on his leg. His hand snaked out of his pocket and held hers lightly. ********************************************************************** Since it was early in the day, Scully was able to park right in front of Mulder's building. This was a good thing considering the way Mulder leaned over on her as they trudged their way up the stairs and into the building. On the elevator ride up, Mulder sneezed seven times in a row. "Geez, Mulder! Are you alright?" Mulder was bent in the middle with surprise and pain and Scully hunched over to speak to him, one hand on his back. "Doh. I um not awight," Mulder said stuffily, pulled out some spare tissue he had snagged from Kimberly's office and blew his nose so hard he made a honking sound. "Ah. That's better," he said, standing upright. Scully merely took a deep breath. *I will not smile. I will not laugh. I will not smile...* She didn't want Mulder to think she was making light of his misery. Against her will, a small smile creased her mouth. "It's not funny, Scully. I'm not well," Mulder insisted as he stepped from the elevator. "I've been saying that for years," Scully mumbled under her breath as she followed him. ********************************************************************** The moment they entered his apartment, Mulder launched himself at the couch. He fell with a messy PLOP and sent dust motes and a few papers flying into the faintly sunlit air. "Ahhh," Mulder enthused, "I'm never moving again." Scully was removing her coat and regarding him with a amused look. "Come on, Mulder," she said, throwing her coat over a chair, "at least get up and take off your coat and shoes." She tilted her head in thought. "Actually, you should go change clothes entirely and get into bed." But Mulder was already snoring. "For a man with chronic insomnia, that sure was quick," she said snidely and headed for the bathroom and the medicine cabinet. She navigated through his messy bedroom around a pile of dirty clothes and boxes of papers. Scully paused and pulled a faded newpaper article from the top of one precariously-stacked box. "Half-Lizard, Half-Dog!" - the headline screamed. Mulder had scratched in the margin - "Evid. of alien experimentation of other species?" She sighed, replaced the paper and continued on her way. Scully pulled the towel from the bathroom doorknob and threw it to the floor. *Still damp. Must be from this morning. After all his years as a bachelor, you'd think he'd have to eventually learn how to clean up after himself.* But even as she thought it, she knew he must clean on weekends or his place would look a lot worse. His bathroom sported a humid atmosphere from his shower earlier in the morning, a pair of boxers and yellow pajama bottoms crumpled in the corner, and assorted toiletries set haphazardly around the sink. She paused. It smelled like him. Or rather, it smelled like "first-thing-in-the- morning" Mulder. The Mulder that strode into the basement office in the early mornings, hair combed, suit neat, raring to go. The Mulder that stood so close to her as they got their morning coffee and carried it back to their office to drink over their latest case files. The Mulder that kissed her one last time before they parted and took separate cars to work from her apartment after spending the night together. She inhaled with her eyes closed and sighed. She heard Mulder hack and cough from the other room. "Ow," she heard him say to himself. Scully shook herself free of her reverie and stepped up to the sink to open his medicine cabinet. She found the medicine easily as there wasn't much in it. Scully returned to Mulder's side with a dose of liquid NyQuil. Mulder sat up, shot back the dosage from the small plastic cup, made the requisite "Yick" face - with shiver - and lay back down. "There Mulder, in a little bit that will start to work and you can get some uninterrupted sleep," Scully said, leaning over to stroke his forehead. Mulder's last thought was that he forgot to tell her how quickly NyQuil affected him. He opened his mouth to say something, but the world faded to black. ********************************************************************** continuing... Just a little ordinary life for our heroes...everybody gets sick... (shawntaw blows nose and clutches stomach as she coughs violently) I'll be REALLY glad when I shake this cold.... Next: Happiness - Share and Share Alike Loved ones share EVERYTHING....right?.... Mwa ha ha ha hack hack cough cough....oh nevermind....