Chapter 4: Tasty Little Fruit Loop
Mulder’s Bathroom
11:58 PM
Mulder turned around in shock at Scully’s small gasp. When he saw her fall in the bath he jumped to help her, but she pushed him away.
“Scully, what it is?” She curled up into a ball and began shivering.
“Dana?” A familiar female voice called desperately and Mulder spun around to face the mirror. His eyes locked those of the woman whose image stood before him in the glass. He did a double-take.
“Elizabeth!”
“You can see me!” She exclaimed, then said thoughtfully. “Maybe it can only keep hold of one mind at a time.” Elizabeth gestured at Scully. “I’ve lost her.”
“What do you mean?” Mulder asked.
“Before I could see inside her mind – that’s why she could see me – but yours was shut off to me.” She sighed. “Now yours is free and Dana’s is closed off.”
“You’re saying that whatever the thing was that pretended to be you was controlling my mind and now it’s got Scully’s.”
“It used me to get to you. Now it’s using Dana.”
“To get to me?” Mulder frowned. “But why?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and there was a moment of tense silence.
“Are you really Elizabeth?” Mulder asked at length. Elizabeth smiled.
“How real is real?” She watched as Mulder began to get irritated and her smile grew wider. “I died, what more can I say?”
“Uh.” The groan came from the direction of the bathtub and Mulder hurried over to Scully. This time she let him help her.
“Are you okay?” He asked softly. Her eyes were still wide as saucers.
“Yeah.” She answered not sounding at all alright. “Turn around will you.” Mulder was confused but did as she asked and when he turned back to her there was a strange expression on her face. “There’s just the scratches.” She said quietly.
“What did you expect to see?” Mulder asked and her eyes locked to his, then she shook her head and looked away.
“Nothing, I guess.”
“She’s lying.” Elizabeth said and Mulder turned to look at her.
“What did she see?” He asked.
“Who are you talking to?” Scully asked and Mulder turned back to her.
“Elizabeth.”
“I can’t see her.” Scully said thoughtfully.
“Whatever it was that made me see non-existent fire is now in *your* head.” Mulder informed Scully softly.
“You mean, it wasn’t real?” Scully asked breathlessly.
“What wasn’t?”
“What I saw on your back.” Mulder smiled.
“I hope not, you sure freaked out on me.” He replied softly and Scully sighed. “Are you okay now?”
“Yeah.” She said a determined tone and forced a smile. “I’m fine.” She stood up and stepped away from him. “So,” She started with a frown. “You can see Elizabeth?” Mulder nodded. “Then she is really there and I wasn’t going mad?” Mulder smiled.
“No Scully, you’re as sane as I am.” He answered in a mock-serious tone. Scully very nearly laughed.
“That’s *so* reassuring Mulder.” She replied, not able to conceal her smile. Their eyes locked for a long moment before Mulder finally looked away and went to the mirror.
Elizabeth was smiling at him sadly.
“If I wasn’t dead then I’d be jealous.” She said quietly.
“What?” He asked a little too sharply, thankful at this moment that Scully could only hear his side of the conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Scully asked and Elizabeth’s face broke into a smile.
“Nothing.” Mulder lied and Scully frowned, obviously not believing him. He looked back up at Elizabeth’s image and deliberately changed the subject. “What is this thing and why has it chosen us?” Elizabeth shook her head.
“It’s . . I’m not really sure what it is.” She sighed. “I was involved in a,” She laughed bitterly. “‘cult’. I guess you could call it that. We didn’t mean it. We were just messing about with Ouija boards and stuff. Then it started to get more serious . .”
Scully watched as Mulder nodded in acknowledgement of whatever it was that Elizabeth was saying. Earlier she’d wished that she couldn’t hear Elizabeth’s soft insistent voice but now she wished the opposite. She was completely excluded from the conversation, so instead she watched Mulder. He was only wearing a pair of grey jogging pants and he was too intent on the mirror to notice Scully staring at his bare torso. Her mind wandered towards forbidden thoughts and she forced them away as she always did. The scratches on his back were vivid and she knew that she needed to tend them, but what if she saw that disgusting yellow substance there again? Scully was not normally squeamish, her disgust came from the fact that it had appeared to come from inside Mulder. Then she saw something move across his chest. He didn’t seem to notice. A small bug – it looked like a cockroach – scampered up and sat on his shoulder. Scully couldn’t help herself, she reached forward and brushed it off.
Mulder tensed when Scully’s fingers touched him and turned to face her in surprise. She was staring at him and suddenly began brushing her hands across his chest.
“There’s too many of them!” She exclaimed. Her face became desperate and he tried to clutch at her shoulders to stop her. She fought him and continued to take swipes at his body. The blows increased in force and began to become painful. A sick little demon in Mulder’s head informed him that he liked it. He forced the thought away and tried to get her to stop.
“Scully, stop it.” He said firmly, grasping her shoulders roughly.
Scully couldn’t stop. She was gasping to draw breath. Hundreds of cockroaches clambered, crawled and creeped over every inch of Mulder’s body. She used whatever force was necessary to try and get rid off them but they just replaced themselves, their numbers not diminishing at all. The floor swarmed with them. Scully stamped on them as they tried to crawl onto her toes. They crunched satisfyingly under her feet, but liquid oozed from inside the tiny bodies and covered her soles with a sticky red goo. Mulder’s tone registered and his hands succeeded in holding her still. She was breathing heavily and she could still see the bugs but she held her hands away with difficulty.
“What is it Dana?” Mulder asked softly and she looked up at his face. A cockroach was hanging stubbornly onto the strand of hair which fell across his forehead.
“Bugs.” She answered on a hissed breath and brushed the creature off.
Things clicked into place for Mulder. He tried not to lean into her hand as she brushed at his hair.
“Scully.” He began firmly, looking directly into her eyes. “They’re not real.”
She didn’t hear him. Her eyes skittered away from his. The bug didn’t want to let go so she forced her hands through his hair. Now she was looking closely his scalp was crawling with them. She dragged him down to her level and began clutching and ripping at bunches of his hair. Their bodies bumped and scraped against each other as they struggled and twisted.
Mulder fought her but she dragged him down with almost supernatural strength. Her hands threaded and twisted in his hair. Then he wasn’t fighting as much as he should have been and it began to become more difficult for him to say that he wasn’t enjoying it. His hands grasped her hips with the intention of using the leverage to keep himself steady and push her away. Instead they tightened and pulled her closer.
Scully felt his hips pressing up against hers and realised that she was getting turned on by their struggle, as he obviously was too. The thought managed to chase some of the bugs out of her mind and she forced herself away from Mulder. The bugs were still there – a writhing mass covering his half naked body – but she put several metres between them and firmly stuck her hands behind her back and interlocked them. She twisted them painfully. The pain felt good.
Mulder was almost disappointed when her body was removed from his. Dragging his wits back together and taking several deeps breathes, he turned a steady gaze on the trembling woman standing in front of him.
“Can you still see bugs?” He asked roughly and she nodded nervously. Her hands stayed behind her back, but she shifted her feet and rocked rapidly back and forth.
“Yeah.” She bit out, stubbornly refusing eye contact. He reached out a hand and stepped towards her, but she backed away and he dropped his arm ineffectually.
She couldn’t meet his eyes. Desperately her mind insisted that it was because she didn’t want to see the cockroaches crawling across his face. That wasn’t the real reason. Scully didn’t want to think about that.
Elizabeth, in the mirror, watched the entire scene with a bland expression. Intervention was required.
“Mulder?” Elizabeth said suddenly from behind him and Mulder was grateful for her interruption. “Why don’t you get Dana a sleeping tablet or something. Sleep would probably do her good.” Mulder nodded.
“Yeah, that’s an idea.” He replied absently, moving to look in the cabinet.
“What idea?” Scully asked shakily, fighting to keep her hands from brushing the bugs off his back. One slid down the length of his spine and flew into the air, to then landed at her feet. She took a couple of steps backwards and hit the door. She gasped. Mulder turned sharply to look at her, the bottle of sleeping pills in his hand.
“Scully?” He questioned.
“I’m okay. I’m keeping it together.” She replied, trying to sound confident but it just came out sounding pathetic.
“Elizabeth’s right. Sleep’ll do you good.” Scully focused on the bottle in Mulder’s hand and realised what they were.
“No.” She said firmly, bringing her hands up. She forced them back behind her back. She shook her head. “I don’t want any pills.”
“After a good night’s sleep things’ll seem clearer.” He answered.
“I’ll try sleep, but I’m not taking any pills.” She insisted and then frowned at him. She relaxed a little and let her hands fall to her sides.
“What?” Mulder demanded as she looked at him curiously.
“The bugs are gone.” She answered in a perplexed tone.
******************
Mulder led Scully in the direction of his bedroom.
“It’s only fair.” He told her. “After the last time I pushed you out of *your* bed.” Momentarily she was reminded of Mulder stumbling into her arms covered in his father’s blood. She should have told him before now that he hadn’t pushed her out of her bed that night. She’d slept right there with him. More pressing matters overtook her mind and she stopped dead looking through the partly open doorway of Mulder’s bedroom, into the blackness beyond.
“I’m not sleeping in your bed Mulder.” She said firmly. He frowned.
“Why not?” He asked, then remembered. Him and Elizabeth, or whatever, had been in that bed. He looked away embarrassed. “Right.” He answered and led the way to the living room instead.
The couch was not the most beckoning sight. Blue sheets lay in an untidy tumble, exactly as Scully had left them earlier in the evening. It seemed like so long ago. For long moments they just stood not looking at each other. It became apparent to Scully that Mulder would not leave until she lay down, so she walked to the couch avoiding him by a wide margin. With an embarrassed smile she lay down and pulled the covers around herself firmly. Mulder stood uncertainly a few metres away from the couch. He gestured with the bottle of pills.
“You sure that you don’t want one?” He asked with a weak smile.
“Very sure.” She replied softly, feeling at a great disadvantage on this angle. She smiled wearily back at him.
“Okay.” He told her softly. He tossed the bottle into the air. The pills inside rattled loudly in the quiet of the darkened room. He caught the bottle and enclosed it within his palm. He turned to leave but suddenly she didn’t want him to go.
“Mulder?” She called, sitting up and looking at his retreating back. He turned back by the corner. “Have you ever felt..” She began softly. “as if…you’re going mad?”
His mouth twitched into a half smile and he looked down at his feet in that cute way that she knew so well. He crossed to her and sat down on the edge of the couch beside her knees. His hand stole up and pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. Scully fought not to lean against that gentle hand.
“Dana,” He breathed. “I feel like that every day. I have the same doubts that you do about our work. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the one who’s wrong about everything. Maybe I *am* just paranoid. If people keep telling you that you’re crazy, there’s a moment when you start to think it too.” He smiled self-depreciatingly and looked away from her. Scully reached a hand up to his cheek and gently turned his face to look at her.
“I don’t think you’re crazy Mulder.” She said sincerely. “Not really.” She sighed, then turned it into a half laugh. “I’m not so sure about myself though.” Her lips twisted sardonically. He did the same as she just had and used a gentle hand to force her to face him. He smiled.
“You’re a very tasty little fruit loop.” He said softly as he brushed his finger lightly over her lips. Unconsciously she pouted her lips slightly, pressing them against his fingers. “ ‘Night Scully.” He said gently and stood up.
“ ‘Night Mulder.” She replied, looking up at him. He turned away. She’d *never* be able to sleep now.
“Mulder?” She called and he turned back with a concerned expression. “I think that I will take one of those pills after all.”
Scully took the pill and lay back down. It worked fast and she was almost asleep by the time that Mulder left the room. He stared at her sleeping form lit only by the odd green light from the fish tank. She was beautiful. His mind wandered. He really should get some more fish, the last of them had died yesterday. No matter what he did; they just *died*. Maybe he should try an ant farm instead. He left the room and returned to the bathroom still pondering it. Scully slipped softly into sleep. The dream began almost instantly.