Date sent: Sun, 28 Sep 97 12:24:54 CDT From: Zubeneschamali Subject: To Be Me (1/1) Title: To Be Me Author: Zubeneschamali (jlcidell@wimpy.uchicago.edu) Spoilers: Small Potatoes (minor) Rating: G Classification: V Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST Summary: A missing scene from "Small Potatoes"--Mulder and Scully driving away from Eddie's house, discussing his earlier question. Disclaimers: Scully and Mulder, and I guess Eddie, too, are the property of the Fox network and Chris Carter and 1013 Productions, who are all probably owned by some larger conglomerate whose name I don't know. |I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I| Please send feedback to jlcidell@wimpy.uchicago.edu...thanks and enjoy the show! |I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I|I| With Eddie Van Blundht, Sr., secured in the trunk, the agents were on their way back to the Martinsburg hospital, Scully to use the autopsy facilities, Mulder to check on Eddie, Sr.'s medical history. Mulder looked a little annoyed, no doubt at losing their suspect so easily, while Scully was still pondering the question he had asked her on the way up to the house. As she slowed down for a turn, she finally asked, "So Mulder, who would you be?" He tilted his head quizzically. "What do you mean?" She completed the turn before answering, "What you asked me back there. If you could be anyone else for a day, who would it be? And no dead people...I believe that was your rule." "You realize that doesn't exclude Elvis," he said seriously. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he grinned. He stretched back in the seat and contemplated her question. Finally he answered, "I think I would like to be you, Scully." Both eyebrows went up this time. "No, seriously." He turned in the seat to face her. "I meant what I said, that who we are is in large part determined by how other people respond to us. Since you are the person who is around me the most, knowing how you react to me would help me a lot in knowing who I am." she thought to herself. "Is that the only reason?" she asked aloud. "Well, there'd be the fringe benefit of getting to go through your underwear drawer," he smirked. When he received what he always thought of as Scully's schoolteacher look, he relented. "I'd also like the chance to understand you better. Maybe I'd like to see if we really should be picking out china patterns." The corner of her mind that was always all too happy to interpret comments like that began to pipe up, but she ignored it and asked, "What don't you understand about me? I certainly don't think I'm the 'enigmatic Dr. Scully' that Max Fenig called me." "Yeah, but you are. At least to someone like me." He twisted the fabric of his coat between his fingers. "Scully, you grew up so *normal*, it's hard for someone as screwed up as me to relate to you sometimes. And being you for a day seems like the easiest way to understand you." She gave a half smile. "Mulder, you could always ask." He shrugged and stared out the windshield again. "I wouldn't know what to ask." "You? The Oxford-trained psychologist? I bet there are a dozen questions you could think of without even trying." he acknowledged to himself, "Besides, Mulder, I don't think you'd last a day as me," Scully added. "Why, is it really that difficult to be Dana Scully?" he said with a teasing grin. Her face fell and she looked out at the road. "Sometimes," she said quietly. He sighed. "I'm sorry, Scully, I didn't mean that. He laid a hand over one of hers on the steering wheel. "I'm just usually so bummed that I naturally assume everyone has it better than me." She gave him a small smile. "I think if we had a contest to see who had it worse, it would be a pretty tough call. That's why it surprises me so much to hear you say that you'd want to be me--I figured you would choose Samantha, to know where she is, or the Cigarette Man, to do as much damage to his consortium as you could in a day. Or anyone who'd know more of the answers than I do." He squeezed her hand and let his fall back into his lap. "But you do know a lot of the answers, Scully, at least as far as I'm concerned." He paused for a minute, the only sound the swishing of the tires on the pavement. Then he went on, "You were right last winter when you said not everything's about me. But you were also wrong." Forestalling her objection, he hurried on, "What affects you affects me, and so in that sense, even when it's about you, it's also about me. Does that make sense?" She was silent for a while. Then, quietly, "Yeah, it does." They exchanged a smile, then fell silent. After a while, Scully said, "But you wouldn't want to be me on a weekday." "So I wouldn't be a grouch in the morning?" She made a face. "No, so you wouldn't have to wear pantyhose. Or spend an hour on your hair and makeup, or any of the other wonderful 'beauty aids' that make me presentable." "Scully, you look just fine without all that stuff. Though I think it might be kinda fun to try it all on. What do you think, would I look good with blush and eyeshadow?" He turned toward her, face tilted upwards like a model's. She held back her giggle. "Green eyeshadow, I think, to match the flecks in your eyes. Or maybe a light brown, kind of a golden color." "Why, Scully, I didn't know you paid such close attention to my eyes," Mulder said, tilting his head. "And I didn't know you were so into makeup. If you want to come over sometime and try out some of mine, I'd be more than happy to assist you." "Ooh, like a slumber party, right?" He pretended to bounce in his seat. "Would we stay up all night in our pajamas, too?" he asked with a bit of a leer. "Depends on what we're staying up doing," Scully replied, not daring to take her eyes from the road. When her comment was met with silence, she grinned to herself. she thought as she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. xfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxf "Living in the city, you forget a lot of things. You know, | jlcidell@ there you're always thinking about being mugged or hit by a | wimpy. car. It's not until you get back to Nature until you realize | uchicago. everything's out to get you." -Scully, "Quagmire" | edu xfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxfxf