Title: Archive Of Our Failure (1/1) Author: RocketMan >lebontrager@iname.com< Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe is intended. Sarah McLachlan owns this title, from her song, "Black and White." ~~~~ Archive Of Our Failure ~~~~ "I am the archive of our failure. . ." --Sarah McLachlan ~~~~ "So, what's for dinner?" Mulder blinked as the door caught on his hip and held there, watching Scully's face as she stared back at him. She moved through the doorway, shaking her head at him and wishing she could smile. "Easy Mac," he answered, effortlessly regaining his composure. Her eyebrow rose with confusion as she slumped inside, dumping her coat on his couch and her briefcase on his chair. "Make yourself at home," he said wryly, eyeing her. "What's Easy Mac?" "A bachelor's wet dream," he said and motioned for her to follow him. She kicked her shoes off as they walked into the kitchen, sighing in appreciation as her toes uncramped and her muscles relaxed. She said nothing about wet dreams. "See?" he said, and pointed to the microwave. A bowl spun easily around, a sharp smell of wet noodles and boiling water permeating the air. "A bowl," she said. He nodded and leaned against the counter. "Not just any bowl, Agent Scully. *The* bowl. Macaroni and Cheese made in three and a half minutes. The pride of any man." Scully gave him a flitting smile, more of a simple acknowledgement of his pathetic culinary talents than amusement. He gave her a hurt look and pulled on the microwave door, catching it right before the timer wound down. "This is the best food known to mankind. I've got it down to an art form." She glanced at the blue bowl, noting the thick noodles, and smelling the cheese sauce he sprinkled over it. The orange powder mixed quickly and smoothly, creating a delicious smell of chesse and pasta. "Can you share?" she asked softly, glancing up at him. Any other day, with any other face looking so softly at him, and he would have said no. He held out the bowl, shoulders slumping. "I make extra anyway," he said, sighing. She grinned this time, a bright beautiful look that jolted him awake for the first time since she'd knocked on his door. "What brings you out here?" he said, frowning. She pulled two forks from a junk drawer and handed one to him wordlessly. Mulder dipped into his nectar and tasted it tenderly, nodding to himself. "Ah, you can't deny. It's a wonderful food." She grimaced and took a bite, but her smile came again, and her fork went back for more. He pushed her towards the living room, catching her when she stumbled over her shoes, then sitting in unison on the couch. They ate from the blue bowl in relative silence, the only noise that of a utensil scraping around for the liquid cheese, or a grunt as Scully beat Mulder to a forkful. When it was empty, and the cheese had begun to grow clumped and cold on the sides of the dish, Mulder dropped the bowl to the table and leaned back, sighing. "See what I mean?" She nodded and leaned back, careful to keep from touching him. But he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and burped in her ear, grinning and looking smug. She rolled her eyes and tapped his chin. "Keep it to yourself, Macaroni breath." He pulled back, almost grinning, and pulled on his jeans at the knees, adjusting himself into his couch. "So, Scully. Why'd you come over here?" She glanced to him, wondering if she should take the half hurt, half mocking route. No. They'd gone that way too many times, lately. "I got lonely." He nodded, looking unpreturbed, as if this happened regularly. She looked at the blue bowl, tilted half on the newspaper, half off, the two forks resting side by side. Like them. Half off, half on. "Wanna go see a movie?" he said suddenly. She smiled softly. "Ah. Dinner and a movie. . ." His eyebrows danced for her, and he waved a hand to the closet. "Let me get my coat. . .?" She worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, then nodded. Muder jumped up, moving a bit faster than her tired eyes could follow. ~~~~ "I guess. . ." She shrugged. "It's not your fault, Mulder." He glanced futilely to the 'sold out' sign hanging from the theatre ticket booth, then shook his head. "Maybe some other time?" he said, looking to her hopefully, childlike and wishing on stars. She gave a flicker of a smile and nodded. "Some other time." They walked in silence to the car, easing into a night of shadows, slipping between the pools of parking lot-light and through the bones of sleeping giants. She ran her hand along the back window of one of these behemoths, grime quickly coating the tips of her fingers , the dirt from a thousand different journeys resting along her skin. The pavement seemed springy almost, the thick black slabs like a gym mat, giving each step a bounce that made her come slowly, slwoly, back to normal. "You can just drop me off at home, Mulder." He stopped mid-step, glancing back to her with a confused frown. "Oh." She nodded and strode forward, finding herself more confident, more alive, more controlled. He watched her walk gracefully, her lines and form so perfectly placed. He had been in her Most Holy Place, had come cowering to her altar, offering himself up to her spirit, finding absolution. And he'd been kicked out. ~~~~ It was black midnight when he pulled the car into an illegal spot, parking there so she could get out closer to the apartment door. She put her hand to the door handle, hesitating slightly. Mulder wondered what exactly pushed through her mind in moments like these, when they could both feel the tension sweeping along them like ocean waves, tidal forces. Scully sighed and pushed open the door, finding nothing had changed, nothing was different. Mulder reached out to stop her, to grab her arm and push her back in his car, make her talk to him, be free with him, but he didn't. He just didn't. ~~~~ His living room smelled like macaroni and cheesy better times. The water was too hot as he washed out the bowl, and then too cold as he wiped off the forks. He ambled back through his apartment, drying the bowl with a dirty T-shirt he'd found, and wondering what her little escapade to his apartment had been about. Hungry for company and dinner, she had let him further into her true self this one night than on any other night in the last six or so years. Was he starving her, or satiating her? ~~~~ end adios was this too weird? RM ~~~~~~~~~~ "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." --Matthew 5:16 ~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/5007/ Come check out my web page ~~~~~~~~~~ also: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/3883/rocketmm.html for my Recommendations