Sick Girl, Bad Boy Author: Kimberly Category: implied DSR, the smallest bit of MSR Rating: PG (heck, it’s probably G) Summary: Scully gets sick and reveals her boyfriend Archive: Addicted to Doggett and affiliated websites may archive. Any others please email me so that I know where you would like to put it. Thank you. Disclaimer: All X-Files characters belong to Chris Carter. Note: I suppose you could consider this an alternate world of events after Doggett enters the scene. In this story, there is no baby. Mulder’s abduction never happened. Think of it like Doggett simply showed up for work one day. : - ) This is the silliest story I’ve ever written. There is absolutely no purpose behind it. I simply sat down and wrote it. Feedback: Please? My email box would appreciate it and it would be nice to know people read the story. starbuck20032000@yahoo.com _____________________________________________________________ The coughing had awakened her in the middle of the night. An intense itching and burning filled her throat as she made her way to the kitchen for a cold glass of water. Great, she thought, probably strep. That was all she needed right now. Mulder and Doggett still were not getting along – though that was not anything new – and she needed to be at the office to keep the peace. It was incredible how two grown men could toss insults back and forth each day. Scully forced as many ice cubes as possible into a glass and poured more water over them. She returned to her bedroom and made a call. “I can’t get any rest,” she sighed into the phone, “Tell me a story or sing to me like you did the other day.” It amazed her how a simple soothing voice could lull her to sleep again. **** “You’re here bright and early.” Mulder glared at Doggett as the ‘new guy’ passed through the door. “And why shouldn’t I be? It’s my office, too. Or perhaps you prefer to think of it as YOUR office. Because I can have one of the secretaries upstairs order you a nameplate to go right over mine. We’ll call it ‘DoggettLand’.” ”Alright, Mulder, cut it out. I was simply makin’ an observation. Sorry I brought it up.” With a roll of his eyes, he slumped into a chair and wondered if he could ever have a decent conversation with this man. “Where’s Scully?” “Just what are you implying?” Doggett let out a sigh and tossed his newspaper on the table. “Look, I’m gonna leave and give her a call. Why don’t you decide if you’re gonna be a big boy today, okay?” Mulder mimicked Doggett’s admonishment after he was alone in the office. He tried to get along with Doggett for Scully’s sake. She had wanted them to be friends from the start. But he was still resentful of Kersh’s accusation that he could not handle the office or its responsibilities. Dammit, he had created the office! And he knew, oh he knew, that Doggett had been Kersh’s self-appointed spy. But Scully denied that charge. She claimed the new guy was just trying to do his job. “Just running a little late, Agent Doggett. You know that if I’m going to stay home, I’ll give you a call.” Scully entered the office with Doggett trailing her like a lost puppy. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” ”What’s wrong?” Both men asked in unison, then shot glares at each other. She found this highly amusing that they were both vying for her attention and trying to out do each other. “I may be getting a cold. It’s nothing,” Scully waved her hand. But Mulder wanted to show how much he cared. “Hey, Scully,” his voice was soft and soothing as he approached her. “Give me a break,” Doggett muttered. After shooting him a look, Mulder continued, “If you need to go home, we’ll understand. There isn’t anything here that should be considered worth more than your health.” He gently brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. It was meant to be a flirting gesture, but he was more than a little concerned, “Scully, you really do feel a little warm.” Now, that caught Doggett’s attention. He, too, decided it was time to take action and placed his hand on her forehead. If anyone had looked into the basement office at that moment, they would have been more than a little suspicious about exactly what was transpiring. “You’ve got a fever.” ”Ooo, a regular Einstein.” Doggett ignored Mulder. “This is more than a cold. You been around anyone sick lately? I heard the flu’s goin’ ‘round.” ”Uh…” Scully, while enjoying the attention, had not expected the results. “The only people I’ve been around a lot are you two. I had to go to the pathology lab at Quantico a few days ago. Dr. Hartman had blood cultures from the two victims found in the Baltimore warehouse.” If that was true, then Scully could be in danger. The blood cultures had revealed an unknown bacterium had been the likely killer in Baltimore. And the death had not been pretty. Though they did not know the symptoms and no other bodies had been found, these bodies had a red rash covering most of their upper torsos. Inside the throat, blisters filled with mucus had been discovered. No one had ever before seen anything like it. Once one of those blisters popped, it was all over. The infection would spread throughout the body like a plague. Mulder and Doggett had both backed away as visions of the victims ran through their heads. They did not want to end of like them, nor did they want such an awful end to come to Scully. ”Well,” Doggett started after Scully gave them the ‘look’, “we should probably do something. I mean, maybe it isn’t…that…thing.” Mulder crossed his arms and nodded, “Yeah, or maybe it is and she’s just infected the entire FBI headquarters. Possibly all of Georgetown and downtown Washington.” “MULDER!” Scully was unhappy with both of them, but Mulder had been the last to make her mad. “This is absurd!” “There she goes with that ‘absurd’ thing again,” Mulder tossed his hands into the air. She glared at him, but continued. Oh, she was not going to keel over anytime soon. Not now that she needed to make Mulder her personal punching bag. “First of all, I am a medical doctor. I have an itching and scratching throat which caused me to need a glass of water to drink in the middle of the night. At worst, I have strep throat or tonsillitis. Second, the Baltimore contagion was cultured in less than 24 hours! LESS THAN 24 HOURS! That means I would have had symptoms the night after visiting Quantico, NOT LAST NIGHT! And third,” Scully shot a look at Doggett this time, “I now seem to remember you having a sore throat a few days ago.” Silence fell across the room. You could have heard a pin drop. Doggett’s head drooped. Mulder shot looks back and forth between Scully and Doggett and Doggett and Scully. Quite proud of herself, Scully simply tapped her foot and waited for someone to say something. “Children, this office is not to be used for hanky panky.” Mulder knew he should have been shocked, but really was not. There had been signs all along. Like Scully defending Doggett. “I think I have a right to know…” he punched Doggett in the arm, “Is she a good kisser?” Doggett’s ears turned red. He looked to Scully for some help, but saw that she was in no mood to provide sympathy. Apparently, this was his pay back for making her sick. “Yeah,” he mumbled. ”What? Can’t hear you?” Mulder smirked. It was nice to see Doggett embarrassed instead of always being the hoity-toity appointee. And, heck, if he could not get Scully, then he was going to live vicariously through the one who did. “Since your man here isn’t much of a talker, how long has this been going on behind my back? You two been making out in between lunches?” Scully laughed a little, and then had to cough as the itching in her throat continued. “It’s been going on long enough to make me sick. But don’t worry, Mulder, you were my first love.” Mulder’s eyes lit up. Doggett’s head shot up. “Hey! What about-“ “We don’t need to talk about it anymore, John.” Scully raised her hand to prevent him from continuing. She could imagine him telling how she confessed that she had merely led Mulder on so that he would cooperate with her scientific investigations, though she had always lost the government grants she had been working for whenever they heard she was part of the x-files unit. “I know the day has just started but I am feeling a little under the weather. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go on home and relax for the rest of the day.” Mulder waited until they were alone to face Doggett. “Okay, it’s just you and me. Man-to-man. I want details.” With a shake of his head, Doggett patted Mulder on the shoulder. “You’ll never learn. Women don’t want men who will kiss and tell.” He grabbed the newspaper he had left on Mulder’s desk and headed out the same door Scully had just exited. “Hey, Mulder.” ”What?” “Her leaving was my cue.” Doggett smirked. “It’s true what they say. Red-heads are passionate.” Mulder gasped as Doggett whistled his way to the elevator. ##### Hate it? Let me know!