Soul Mate
Part Two
E-mail: HooverArchivesX1@worldnet.att.net & HooverArchivesX2@worldnet.att.net
Fandom: X-files
Pairing: Skinner/Mulder
Rating: PG I suppose
Disclaimer: My apologies to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and 20th Century
Fox Broadcasting for their characters that I am so shamelessly stealing and
abusing. I am obviously not going to make one red cent from this.
Synopsis: Mulder loses the love of his life.
Archivists: Please don't change anything and keep my name and email on it. Thanks.
Mulder jumped from the stool as his doorbell buzzer went off, announcing
the arrival of his partner, Dana Scully. He glanced belatedly around the
apartment as he hustled towards the door, frowning as he realized he was in
for one hell of a lecture from Scully about the disgraceful state of the
rooms around him. He quickly stripped off the stained tee shirt before he
reached the door and stuffed it onto a bookshelf in the hallway, arranging a
few books to try to hide it and then moving to open the door as a loud
pounding began.
"Okay, okay. I'm here. Sheesh." Pulling the door open, Scully was greeted
with the vision of Mulder's bare chest.
"It's about time. I've been ringing the buzzer for five minutes, Mulder!
What on earth is going on?" Pushing her way past Mulder into the apartment,
Scully's hand immediately went to cover her nose. "What on earth is that
stench! It smells like a pig sty in here!" Scully glanced over at Fox.
"*You* smell like a pig sty!"
Fox looked momentarily down at himself before blustering. "Did you come
over here to help me or to criticize me? I don't need to hear any crap from
anyone right now, Scully!"
Taking Mulder's arm, Scully directed him towards the living room, her eyes
widening at the mess all around them. "Jesus. I was just here last Tuesday.
What the hell happened to you?"
Pulling his arm away from Scully, Fox plopped down in Walter's favorite
armchair and studied his toes for a moment before speaking quietly in choppy
sentences. "Walter left me. He said it was over. I don't know why. He didn't
really say. Said he didn't want to talk about it. And then he left."
Sweeping his arm to gesture about the room, Fox continued, his voice choking
up with tears. "And I've been here ever since. I just can't.... I can't make
heads or tails of it." Glancing up sorrowfully at Scully, Mulder scrubbed
his bare arm over his eyes. "I just don't understand what I did wrong. I
thought things were perfect. I thought he loved me."
Scully listened thoughtfully, her eyes mirroring the pain she saw in Fox's
face. Placing a hand on his arm, she squeezed gently. "We'll figure this out
together, Fox. I promise. Just let me help you. Come on. Get up. First
things first. You'll feel better after a hot shower and a change of clean
clothing. And while your doing that, I will see what I can do about getting
this apartment back into shape." Dana glanced at the scattered plates of
untouched food. "When is the last time you actually ate anything, Fox?"
Fox climbed reluctantly to his feet, his gaze dropping to a bowl of cereal.
A fly was happily doing the breast stroke through the murky milk, eating
himself into a stupor. "I don't know. Before Walter came by." Mulder
scrubbed his hand through his dark brown hair. "I've been trying to eat. I
kept making it.... I just couldn't..."
Turning Fox from the repulsive vision of food, Dana steered him towards the
bathroom. "Alright, we'll get you washed up first. Then we'll see about you
eating something." Mumbling almost to herself, "I hope your bathroom isn't
in as bad of shape as the rest of this place."
Several hours later found Dana driving across town towards A.D. Walter
Skinner's apartment. She was determined to get to the bottom of all this
nonsense. The evening had been spent scrubbing Fox's apartment from floor to
ceiling in some cases. Washing dishes, scrubbing messes, throwing out trash,
vacuuming, gathering filthy laundry to take to the cleaners. She had even
found a disgusting tee shirt stuffed behind some books and a pile of laundry
in one of the cabinets. She had made sure Fox had eaten a small amount of
dry toast, before finally tucking him into bed with stern orders to stay
there and a light kiss on the forehead before she had taken off, a
determined woman.
Dana signed in at the front desk of Walter's luxury apartment building and
stalked to the elevator. Angrily punching the button for Walter's floor,
Dana brushed her wispy bangs out of her eyes for the umpteenth time this
evening. After all the scrubbing she had done at Mulder's she was definitely
overdue for a shower herself. She leaned wearily against one wall of the
elevator, closing her eyes for a moment as the elevator quickly climbed to
Walter's floor.
Her eyes popped open when the doors of the elevator did and adjusting her
purse strap over her shoulder, Dana exited the elevator and stepped down the
hallway to Walter's apartment door. Forgoing the soft tap that she normally
used at the A.D.'s apartment, Dana gave the door a good banging, letting out
her frustration at the state she had left Mulder in. "Walter! It's me, Dana!
Let me in, right now!"
Several minutes went by with no response as Dana pounded louder. "I know
your home! The doorman said you haven't left all weekend!" A door down the
hallway finally opened and an elderly woman stuck her head filled with pink
curlers out into the hallway. Dana spared her a quick glance and a snotty
comment. "Mind your business." The head quickly disappeared, followed by the
click of the busybody's door as Dana resumed her pounding. "Walter Skinner!
Open up!"
Dana finally grasped the handle of the door and gave it a turn in hopes
that maybe it wasn't locked. It turned easily in her hand.
Dana felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, as she quietly entered
the dark apartment. The first thing that assaulted her was the smell. It was
very similar to what she had first encountered at Mulder's apartment before
spending hours scrubbing it. Slowly creeping into the apartment, Dana's gaze
swept the room, finding much the same mess as she had at Mulder's. Plates of
untouched food, dirty clothing. Fox had always been known to not be the best
of house-keepers, but Walter prided himself on keeping a neat and tidy
apartment.
Dana inched her way fully into the living room, the only light coming from
the muted television. An infomercial went on about it's business, trying to
entice buyers into the newest "wonder" item that they were certain you
absolutely could not live without. Dana was sure if you acted in the next
ten minutes, that you would probably receive a free fillet knife as well or
some other such useless item.
Dana's gaze dropped to the back of the sofa in front of her. Inching
quietly forward, Walter's body finally came into view. Taking a deep breath,
Dana shut her eyes for a moment in relief that he was here before she
tentatively pressed two fingers to his neck, checking for signs of life.
"Hello Dana. I figured you'd show up eventually." Dana almost jumped out of
her skin, startled at the quiet words in the otherwise silent apartment.
"Walter. Are you alright?" Dana peered through the darkness, pushing a pair
of sweatpants out of a nearby chair to the floor and perching nervously on
the edge, facing the sofa.
Swinging his feet to the floor, Walter continued to speak softly. "You
might as well leave now, Dana. You're not going to change my mind. It's over
between Fox and I."
Dana sighed loudly, gaining confidence as she looked at the miserable older
man. Climbing to her feet, Dana turned on the lamp on the end table,
grimacing as she got a better look at the shambles that had been made of the
room. Glancing at her wristwatch, Dana sighed loudly at the lateness of the
hour. She had a long night ahead of her. "Look at yourself, Walter. You are
in as bad a shape as Mulder was. When's the last time you showered or ate?"
Ignoring her question, Walter spoke quietly. "How is he?"
"His heart is broken, Walter. I cleaned him up and made him eat a few
bites, but it's like he's shut himself down. He's merely existing, and
barely doing that." Dana raised her eyebrows at Walter. "Just like it looks
like you've done. Want to tell me what happened to make you do this? You two
seemed so happy together. Why would you want to change that?"
"It's none of your business, Dana. Go home." Climbing to his feet, Walter
stepped over a pile of laundry and softly padded down the hallway to his
bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him, leaving Dana to gape at the
closed door.
Dana dropped back into the chair, sitting open-mouthed for a moment,
playing over the events of the day in her mind, growing angrier by the
minute. How dare Walter treat Fox in this manner and not even have the
decency to give him an explanation. The explanation he deserved. Unsteadily
climbing to her feet, fueled by her growing anger, Dana dropped her purse
into the chair and stomped down the hallway to Walter's closed door. Not
bothering to knock, Dana flung the door open angrily, the force of her
entrance banging the door into the wall, leaving a small indent from the
door knob in the plaster.
Dana growled angrily, sounding like a mother bear protecting her cub, her
fingers curled into fists at her sides as she stammered. "How dare you! How
dare you treat Fox like this! You at least owe him the decency of an
explanation!" Flicking on the overhead lightswitch, Dana stomped over to the
bed where Walter was lying prone. Rolling to his side away from Dana, Walter
buried his tear-stained face in the pillow, the light burning his
ultra-sensitive eyes having lived in darkness since his return from Mulder's
apartment three days ago. "Go away, Dana. Please."
"I'm not going away, Walter. Your going to call Fox right this minute if I
have to bust you over the head to knock some sense into you." Glancing about
the room, Dana figured she had better have something to back up her claim if
push came to shove. Dana's eye caught the handle of something sticking out
from under the bed. Moving to investigate, she pulled a small, forgotten,
wooden paddle from beneath the plaid dust ruffle, leftover from one of the
games Mulder and Skinner had played some weeks ago. Tightening her grip
around the handle, Dana eyed Walter's sweatpant-covered hip. "I'm not
joking, Walter. Pick up that phone right now, or.... or... well, you'll
regret it." Dana felt a thin sheen of nervous perspiration spring out across
her upper lip and forehead as she stood her ground behind Walter, the small
paddle held at the ready.
Walter remained turned stubbornly towards the wall, his choked voice coming
in a whisper. "I'm sorry, Dana. I just can't face him. Not now anyway."
Dana sighed and dropped the paddle onto the center of the bed. "Then I give
up, Walter. You don't deserve him." Dana turned slowly from the curled up
figure of the A.D., shaking her head as she left the room, shutting the door
softly behind her.
Epilogue:
The next day A.D. Walter Skinner put in for a transfer out of the X-files.
He was moved quickly to another department, where he and Fox Mulder's paths
would not cross. Eventually one day, the two passed each other on the
street. Walter had a pretty, young, showpiece wife on his arm. Fox had heard
Walter had been married several months back. Fox was with another young man,
who instantly bristled when he saw Walter, placing his hand possessively in
the small of Mulder's back.
Fox gave the young man a reassuring glance, and then extended his hand in
Walter's direction. "Hello, Walter."
The A.D. could not meet Fox's eyes at first, but slowly lifted them to his,
firmly grasping his hand, a little tighter than his normal handshake.
"Hello, Fox. How are you?"
"Fine. Fine." Fox turned to his new *friend*. "Keith, this is A.D. Walter
Skinner. We used to work together. Walter, this is my friend, Keith."
"Pleased to meet you, Keith. This is my wife, Beth." Beth extended her hand
tentatively, sensing the nervous tension in the air. "It's nice to meet you
both."
Aimless chit-chat passed for a few minutes before the two pairs went their
separate ways again. Keith slipped his hand into Fox's as they walked away,
giving him a reassuring squeeze and a small smile. Glancing lovingly back
into Keith's eyes, Fox returned the squeeze as they continued their way down
the sidewalk.
Fin