TITLE:  Needing a Friend (Parts 1, 2)
AUTHOR:  Tracy Aiken
E-MAIL:  teanc@mindspring.com
CATEGORY:  S, Angst, MSR
RATING:  NC-17
SPOILERS:  Through Season 6 to be safe.
ARCHIVE:  Already sent to Gossamer, anywhere
else, just let me know.
SUMMARY: Scully needs a friend and finds three
unexpected ones.
DISCLAIMER:  These characters belong to Fox, and
1013 Productions.  No money is being made on
this.  Please don't sue.  No infringement
intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: A big thank you to my friend and
beta reader and encourager, Dominiqua.  This
story wouldn't have been possible without her
encouragement - thank you - you're the best!


Scully had been driving around the District of
Columbia for the better part of two hours with no
destination in mind.  It wasn't that she wanted to
just drive, but that she wanted something to do, and
someone to talk to, really talk.  Of course there were
medical journals to read and articles to work on, but
she wanted to feel like a part of the human race
again, not just a Special Agent trying to save the
world, even if the world didn't know it needed saving.

She found herself parking next to The Lone Gunman
office/apartment and the next thing she knew, Langley
was tapping on her window, smiling.

"Hey, Scully.  What brings you by?"

He noticed she looked a bit uncomfortable, and when
she didn't answer him immediately, he added, "come on
up, dinner should be here soon, you're welcome to join
us."

"Are you sure, I don't want to impose."

He smiled and said, "come on, you know Frohicke would
kill to have dinner with you."

Langley led the way into the apartment and left Scully
waiting in the kitchen area.  "Make yourself at home,
I'll round up Byers and Frohicke."

Scully found herself looking around their kitchen.
She opened the refrigerator and saw a gallon of milk,
a carton of orange juice, some eggs and various take
out containers.  There was probably a hidden camera in
there somewhere, too.  When she closed the
refrigerator door, she saw all three of them standing
there watching her, with smiles on their faces.

"You can investigate my refrigerator anytime, Scully,"
Frohicke said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she started.

"Scully, I told you to make yourself at home, we don't
care if you check out the refrigerator."

Byers, saw that she was embarrassed, by being caught
going through their refrigerator.  "There's not a
camera in there, promise," Byers said smiling.  "Can I
get you something to drink?"

"If I'm imposing...."

"Scully, we don't see nearly enough of you," Frohicke
said leering at her.

"Down, Frohicke," Langley said.

"Punk ass," Frohicke said under his breath.

"Enough, both of you.  Scully, please, have a seat.
I'll get you a drink.  Is wine all right?"

"Perfect, thank you."

Scully, feeling completely out of place; rarely came
to The Lone Gunman office by herself.  Not that she
minded seeing the boys, it was just that she really
hadn't ever spent any amount of time alone with them.

Byers handed her, her wine and sat down next to her.
"Is everything...I mean, Scully, don't take this the
wrong way, but is everything okay?"

Scully looked down into her wineglass.

"Not that you aren't welcome here, you are, it's just
that you never...."

"Byers, I know you're not used to me being here, let
alone, by myself."

"You are always welcome here," Frohicke added from
behind them.

"Thank you," she said turning to see Langley and
Frohicke staring at her.

"I really am okay.  I just needed some down time."

"That's cool," Langley, said, "you're more than
welcome to hang here tonight.  We were just going to
play some video games, maybe surf the net...we put the
paper to bed earlier."

"I appreciate you letting me intrude."

"Scully, you're not intruding, trust me," Byers, said.

The doorbell rang and a video monitor came to life on
the counter.

"Dinner," Langley announced and quickly went to
collect it from the delivery person.

He came back carrying two pizza boxes.  "Scully, we've
got pepperoni with onions and green peppers and the
other one is mushrooms and sausage."

"Both sound great.  I really appreciate your sharing
your dinner with me, are you sure there's enough?"

Byers smiled.  "You're saving me from having to settle
who gets the last piece, later."

She smiled.  "You've obviously never eaten pizza with
me, before."

"You really are the perfect woman," Frohicke said from
the kitchen.

"That depends on whom you ask," she said, really to
herself.

   They were all silent at her comment.  Finally,
Langley spoke, "does your being here have something to
do with Mulder?"

She turned toward him and said, "honestly, I don't
know.  All I do know is that I needed to get away from
work and do something for me.  I can't actually
remember the last time I did something for just the
sheer pleasure of it; I just want to be able to have
some fun."

"Mulder would love to have fun with you, trust me,"
Frohicke said.

She blushed and picked up her pizza.

"I didn't mean it that way, Scully."

Putting her pizza down she stared at her hands, in her
lap.

"This is about me needing some time for me.  I need to
focus on myself for a while.  I've got plenty of
reading I should be doing, let alone research for
articles but I didn't want to do any of that.  I
wanted to hang out with friends, but while I was
driving around, I realized that I don't have any
friends left. "

"Scully, I know you don't need to be told that what
you do everyday means, even if no one but us knows
what's going on," Frohicke said.

"I know how important what we do is, but every once in
a while, I want to just get away.  Last spring I got a
call from Mulder asking me to come out to a ballpark,
and do you know what we did?  He taught me how to hit
a baseball."  She looked at all three of them.  They
all had the same expression on their face.  It was one
of shock and bewilderment.  She finally understood
that these three only knew Scully the agent, not Dana
the woman.  "But that was really the first time in
seven years that he's asked me to do something not
work related with him.  I like to have fun, at least I
used to, and I miss that.  But that doesn't mean that
I want to give up what we do.  We are very important
players, all of us.   Sometimes though, I just want to
talk to a friend or have someone to spend the evening
with at home. "

"Scully, I know you don't normally hang out with us,
but any time you want to just get away, please know
that we'll be here for you, no matter what," Byers
said.

She was touched beyond words.  She reached over and
grasped Byers' hand.  "Thank you, you don't know how
much that means."

"Would you like me to call Mulder," Frohicke asked?

Usually, every chance he had Frohicke tried to get her
to himself.  She knew at that point what a good friend
Frohicke really was.

"I do need to talk to him, but getting him to talk,
seriously, is another matter," she started.

"I'll call him," Langley said as he reached over to
grab the telephone.

Frohicke came to sit next to Scully.  "You need to
talk to him, you know, let him know what's going on,
inside."

"It's not as easy as that.  I wish we could," she said
as she placed her plate on the table.

"Langley's calling him now and when he gets here you
two can talk.  What you have is special, Scully.
Don't waste precious time."

Langley walked over and sat on the arm of Byers'
chair.  "Mulder is on his way."

While they were waiting, Langley took Scully into the
living room where they played with the Gunman's new
Sega Dreamcast.  Frohicke and Byers followed them in
and they were playing Tetris when the monitor alerted
them to Mulder's presence.

PART 2

On his way to the Gunman's office Mulder began
wondering what was going on with Scully and why she
was at the Lone Gunman's office.  The next thing he
knew he was standing at the door of the Long Gunman,
knocking.

When the door opened, Frohicke was standing there
staring at him.

"What's going on," Mulder demanded.

"Keep your voice down and come in here," he said and
walked into the office.  "Sit," he said motioning to
the couch.

Frohicke was pacing back and forth in front of Mulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Maybe it's you, maybe not, but you have the power to
fix the problem.  She feels alone, and she thinks that
she doesn't have any friends.  Now we both know what
this crusade has cost her," Frohicke said.

Mulder flinched at his last statement.  "You, of all
people, don't have to tell me what she's lost."

"Why not me, maybe I'm the only one with the balls to
tell you how things are?"

"What makes you, Frohicke, think you know how things
are," Mulder said, jumping up, leaning down into
Frohicke's face, with his hands on his hips.

"I listen to her."

"I listen," Mulder said defensively.

"You may hear her, but you don't actually listen to
what she's saying.  Why else would she be here and not
at your apartment?"

He could see Mulder recoil.  "Mulder, I'm not trying
to be an asshole, I want you to realize that you don't
really know that woman in there, you may know the
Special Agent, but deep down, you don't know her, what
makes her sad, or happy.  She wants to give you that
opportunity, but you don't seem to want to take
advantage of her offer, and I don't know why."

Scully was standing in the doorway and said, in
response to Mulder's outburst, "I'm not sure you do
either.

"Scully?"

"Frohicke, can you excuse us, please."

Mulder now was the one pacing.  Scully came into the
room and sat on the couch.  "Mulder, come here," she
said patting the cushion next to her.  When he didn't
move, she added, "please."

Finally, he came to sit next to her.

"I'm not saying anything to hurt you, Mulder.  It's
just sometimes I get the feeling that I'm the last
person you want to see or talk to.  That makes me feel
like you don't want me around.  That's why I didn't
come to see you tonight.  I didn't know if you'd want
to see me."

"Scully, we really do need to go to a communication
seminar," he said with a smirk.

"Don't joke about this, Mulder.  God, why can't you
just be serious for once and stop playing around," she
said and then got up and went to stand in front of a
window, staring out.

Mulder was dumbfounded.  "Scully, I'm sorry."

She didn't respond to him, which made him worry even
more.  When he heard her sniffle he immediately was at
her side.  He tried to take her into his arms, but she
pulled away.  "Come on, Scully, I said I was sorry."

"Sometimes that's not enough."

"Will you give me another chance, please?"

"I'll always give you another chance, Mulder.  That's
the difference between you and me."

"I don't understand, Scully, what does that mean?"

"Forget it, Mulder.  I'm going home," she said and
started walking back toward the living area.

"No," he said and grabbed her arm to stop her, "tell
me."

"I've said this before, Mulder, not everything is
about you."

"Scully, please, I want to talk to you."

"Not right now, Mulder.  We'll talk tomorrow."

"No.  We're going to talk now.  I don't care if it's
here, your place or mine, but we're going to talk,
really talk."

"I'm going home, if you want to come by, that's your
choice," she said and walked into the kitchen area.

Byers, Langley and Frohicke were all waiting in the
kitchen.  "Guys, thank you for sharing your dinner
with me and for allowing me to hang out with you."

"You're welcome, Scully.  Please remember you are
always welcome here," Byers said.

"Anything you need, Scully, you know where we are,"
Frohicke said.

"Anything," Langley added.

Mulder was standing in the doorway watching their
interaction with Scully.  She hugged each of them,
grabbed her coat and walked out.  Mulder was left
standing in the doorway, being stared at by all three
of them.

"What," he exclaimed?

"Just how much of an asshole are you, Mulder" Byers
asked?

"She's just upset, it's nothing to worry about."

"That's the problem," Frohicke said.  "You should be
worried about her, or at least concerned.  You're
acting like you see her cry everyday.  Do you even
know what it takes for her to cry  and this time
you're the cause of her tears?"

"I will fix this, you'll see," Mulder said.

"You don't understand," Langley said.

"Tell me what I don't understand."

"Mulder, you are her best friend, but she doesn't feel
secure enough in your personal relationship to even
talk to you.  You, and we, most of the time, only get
to see the professional side of her, but there's
another side to her, and from what little we've seen,
it's even more incredible than her professional side,"
Langley said.

"Do you know her favorite video game," Byers' asked,
"or do you even know that she likes video games?"

"Scully, likes video games?"

"That's the point, Mulder, we knew that, we've even
played some with her, she's really good."

"But you know, well, maybe you don't, but we know
she'd much rather be with you.  You've just got to get
your act together.  If you don't want to lose her,
personally, you'll get your shit together, Mulder,"
Frohicke said.

Mulder didn't know how to react to what they were
saying.  Were they correct?  Did he really not know
his partner of seven years?  Sure, he knew she was
ranked as an expert on the shooting range, and that
she carried at least three replacement blades for her
scalpel, but did he know her favorite color?  Or what
her favorite ice cream flavor was? Or what her
favorite music group was?  He had a lot to learn about
her, and the only obstacle was Scully herself.  Would
she let him get to know her, really know her?  The
only way to find out was to try.

"Thank you for being here for her tonight," Mulder
said getting up and walked out their door.

On his way to the car, he pulled out his cell phone
and hit speed dial 2, Scully's home number.  He let it
ring several times, but she didn't pick up, only the
answering machine answered after five rings.  He,
next, tried her cell phone; speed dial 1, there was no
answer there, either.  She was avoiding him.

He knew if he let this go until tomorrow, her walls
would be back in place.  He needed to talk to her now,
really talk to her.  No jokes, no kidding around, just
the two of them talking, like friends, best friends.

Finally, he decided to go to her apartment.

Scully, in the meantime, had indeed gone home, changed
into her favorite sweats and an oversized tee shirt.
After changing, she went into her kitchen and found a
pint of New York Super Fudge Chocolate Brownie.  She
grabbed a spoon and went into the living room, where
she grabbed the remote and turned on the Cartoon
Network.  She needed something to make her smile and
maybe, just maybe a Scooby Doo marathon would work.

About an hour later she heard a very soft knock on her
door.  She knew it was Mulder.  Actually, he surprised
her by waiting an hour before knocking on her door.

She sat her ice cream down next to the medical journal
she had been flipping through and walked to the door.
Very slowly she opened the door to see Mulder standing
there, looking as if he really had lost his best
friend.