[2 hours later...]
"Argh! I hate that man! He can't make us do this." Scully cursed, thumping her palms against the desk in frustration of having to re-write the entire evidence documentation. "How can you possibly expect anyone to write a full 10 pages about a strand of hair and a fibre extraction?! That's a joke!"
"Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat." Mulder calmly replied.
"Don't get smart. That's something I would say." She snapped.
"My, my, how the tables turn." He gave a tired smile that faded as fast as it had come. "It's no big deal. Just calm down. You don't know how much I need to stress that to you."
"Ok." Scully let out a breath and let her head rest against the desk. "I'm trying, *believe* me." her muffled voice spoke.
Mulder looked at his watch.
"Well, I'd say it's about time we pack up and leave. Wouldn't you agree?"
Scully lifted her head up fast, checking her own watch to make sure Mulder wasn't leading her on.
"Yes!" She said with more enthusiasm than she had shown all day.

Mulder jabbed a finger on the elevator button, indicating the need for it to speed up.
"I wonder how much of our lives are wasted just waiting for elevators." He pondered.
"In comparison with how much we have left to live," Scully began. "...no time at all. Up until now? A lifetime." She smiled as the doors opened.
"Ever wonder who invented the 'ping' sound?" He asked.
"No, but how many people do you reckon get trapped in these things each year?" She said, watching the elevator doors slide close.
"Wonder if anyone has ever sued over it." Mulder smiled.
"I doubt it!" Scully laughed. "It rarely happens."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." He nodded.
The whirring sound and vibration of the elevator's movements came to a halt. The light turned to darkness.
"Mulder?" Scully said after a long silence.
"Yeah?"
"You know the statistical average of being stuck in an elevator?"
"Scully..." Mulder did not want to hear her answer more than she wanted to say it.
"I think it just rose."
The emergency lights flicked on, bathing the elevator with a dull yellow glow. Both Mulder and Scully looked up to the ceiling in surprise, before turning towards the display panel in attempt to use the emergency phone. Mulder ripped open the bank, thrusted the phone to his ear, straining for the operator.
"Hello, hello? This is Fox Mulder, can anyone hear this?" He called.
No Answer.
Scully began studying the buttons, pressing them at random before kicking the wall in resignation.
"It's no use. The power's down." Mulder said, dropping the phone to let it hit the wall. Scully's eyes followed the gap beneath the doors of the elevator, noting that there was no light coming from the other side.
"Maybe we could pry the doors open." She said.
With nothing less than a pause, they both gripped the sealed gap to pull it apart, refusing to stop until the strain became unbearable.
"This is...not...working..." Mulder managed to say between breaths.
"You're... squashing my hand!" Scully yelped, jerking her hand away, flexing her fingers to make sure they were still movable.
"Ok," Mulder said, standing aside to regain his energy. "How about you pull one way, and I'll pull the other?"
Scully nodded. "One,...two,...three..."
Still nothing happened.
Collapsing to the floor exhausted, neither Scully nor Mulder moved for a while.
"So what do you suppose we do now?" Mulder said finally.
"I think we should begin writing our last words, for when our bodies are found..." Scully began.
"Seriously." He cut in.
"What's the worst that could happen? We will only be here until the morning; surely someone will figure the power is down and find us." She shrugged. "All we have to do is wait."

[1 hour later]
"How many X-files have involved the two of us caught in situations like this." Scully yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her.
"More than I care to remember." Mulder shifted his body around to prevent his legs cramping. "What's the time?"
"For the fiftieth time, you own a watch. But," She looked down, squinting. "It's 11:09."
"That's exactly nine minutes since I last asked you. Where did we pass that time?" Mulder said with sarcasm.
"Ooh, don't tell me. Where else have we lost nine minutes?"
Scully laughed. "No, in all seriousness, with the X-files, how many weird events have we experienced? Thousands?" She turned to look at him.
"Maybe more." Mulder said thoughtfully. "Ok. Tell me, what was the most unexplainable, weird or favourite X-file you experienced?" He asked.
"Mulder, there's too many to name." Scully protested.
"Well name a few then."
"Ok." She paused to think. "Some recent ones. How about Padgett? The way he wrote words, it left simply more than the imagination to resolve. Or Holman and how he controlled the weather with his emotions for Sheila; I was touched. Then there's the Great Mutato or the Flukeman. Definitely strange in the mutation department." Scully let out a sigh. "Or my cancer and Emily, that is on a more personal level. That's a puzzle to me. All in all though, I'll admit that every single case has inevitably taught me something. How about you?"
"Scully, my definition of weird would be on a different level to yours." Mulder began.
"Do you want to define that for me?" She teased.
"There are some things that are better not to know, like your middle name, you Maths Grade, what your parents did in order to bring you into the world, and my definition of weird."
"Oh, that's so true!" They both laughed, falling into a happy sigh.
"Do you remember Gibson?" Scully asked.
"Yeah." Mulder nodded, looking at her.
"How could you possibly live the way he did, knowing everyone better than they knew themselves? Let alone knowing everything."
"That was why he was regarded a threat to the Syndicate. The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel." He said.
"Yet I laugh when I feel. And I cry when I think. And then I do the opposite for both." Scully looked puzzled at her statement.
"Ever wondered if you could predict the future?" She asked to change the subject.
"I'm sure everyone does. Actually, in a book I once read, although as corny as it is, you can predict your own future by reading the lines of your palms."
"You mean, Palm reading?" Scully asked.
"Here, let me show you." Mulder said, sliding down next to Scully. "Hold your hands out together."
Scully laid her hands out side by side in her lap, staring intently at them.
"Now, see this line?" He asked, putting his arm around her to hold her hands for her to see, whilst tracing the line with his other hand. "This is your life."
"You know, when you think about it, people do not chose the lives they live, rather the lives around them chose it." Scully said, her eyes fixed on Mulder hands.
"In a way, that's true." He said, folding her palms together, covering them with his own hands. "If you close your hands, and then open them together, you should lead a good life if the lines still meet."
"You're scaring me. I don't want to know." She said, shuddering at the tingling sensation down her spine.
"It isn't for real." Mulder whispered.
"Is anything?" Scully replied, entwining her fingers into a tangle with his. She looked at Mulder who was also watching her hands, smiling.
"A smile is a whisper of a laugh." Mulder answered her.
"I didn't ask why you were smiling." She said, slightly surprised.
"I know. I could tell what you were thinking."
"You weren't even looking at my expression." She said, leaning tiredly against him.
"It's not the question, rather a matter of trust." He smiled.
"Do you trust me?" Scully asked, looking towards him.
"Yes."
"That's to bad." She replied, leaning forward to kiss him on the lips. Scully opened her hands, against Mulder's whose were still entwined with her own, revealing a straight line across her palms.

- Scully eXtremis