I'd just like to say a few things.  First, THANK YOU, everyone 
who responded to my first fanfic, "Sound Minds."  I LOVE 
feedback, particularly the positive kind.  Now that that's said, 
I'll admit that this is nothing like that one.  There's no real 
plot, and not even any MSR (sorry, 'shippers) just two friends.

DISCLAIMER: The movies aren't mine, but I really can't say whose 
they are.  Scully and Mulder aren't mine either, but if you're 
reading FANfic you should know that already.  If you are a fan, 
you also know they're the property of Chris Carter and 10-13 
Productions so I shouldn't really have to tell you all this.  
It's just I'm a little paranoid about getting sued. Oh, and 
though I'm not making a dime off of it, the story itself is 
copyright (c) me, 1997.  Now onto the fiction!



                 Video Cassettes of the Sci-Fi Kind


Scully stared straight ahead and tried to figure out how she had 
gotten herself into this.

She and Mulder had been working at the office, late as usual.  
Thank goodness the case was over (not at all a nice affair; she 
was going to have unpleasant images of burnt victims in her minds 
for quite a while) but there was still an Everest of paperwork to 
write up.  The partners scaled it diligently, but it took time.  
Scully almost moaned when she glanced at her watch.

"It's already half past seven!"

"Don't worry, we're almost done," Mulder replied. "A few more 
forms to sign, a few more numbers to crunch, and we'll be out of 
here."

Scully glared at the papers.  "Mulder.  It's a Friday night.  
Normal people are out relaxing or partying or going to the movies 
or something."

"Do you have a date?" he asked. "Or will it be just you and a 
bubble bath?"

Scully's glare moved from the papers up to her partner. "Is 
nothing sacred to you?" she said automatically.  But she 
regretted the words the moment they came from her mouth.  Quite a 
few things were sacred to him, in fact...

Fortunately he took it just the right way. "Sure there are!  My 
videos, for example..." Trailing off just waiting for her 
rejoinder.

Just like best friends.  Which of course they were.  It was only 
that they had so much pressure on them sometimes.  She worried 
about him a lot; she sometimes felt like she had to walk on 
eggshells when talking with him, and she wasn't particularly good 
at that.  And it wasn't necessary.  Just because he was 
vulnerable occasionally didn't mean that sometimes, most of the 
times, he was at least as strong as she was.

She had definitely been doing too much paperwork if she was going 
off on reveries like this.  Mulder noticed it. "I thought I was 
the one out in space, Scully."

"I was looking for you there," she told him sweetly.  "So what 
are you doing tonight?"

"Are we looking for a date?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at 
her.

"With /you/?"

"It was worth a try.  In answer to your question, I'm going to 
watch some movies--I just bought a couple yesterday."

Scully rolled her eyes. "Let me guess.  'Nora Does Norway'? Or 
maybe 'Attack of the 50 Foot Succubus'?"

"Now /there's/ a film I'd like to get my hands on!" Mulder 
exclaimed.  "Ever seen it?"  Her groan was a more than sufficient 
answer.  "No," he continued, growing only a hair more serious. 
"Tonight's for some true science fiction.  One of 'em's 'ID4.'"

"Huh?"

Mulder stared at her. "'Independence Day?' Aliens blow up the 
White House? Biggest movie of last year?"

"Oh yeah, I heard of it.  Didn't really want to see it."

He shrugged. "You're missing a great ride.  But the other movie's 
even better--I finally found on video the full director's cut of 
'The Abyss.'"

Scully, sitting on the couch reviewing the evening, winced 
mentally.  Yes, that was the exact moment that had lead to this 
one.  Because instead of just saying "That's nice" or some such, 
she had to go and say,

"The what?"

His expression was shocked. "You've never heard of 'The Abyss?'"

"Mulder, you know I'm not really into cheesy sci-fi."

"It's not cheesy.  It's not totally sci-fi even.  It's just 
totally cool.  It was big when it came out..."

"In the '50s?"

"Late eighties, Scully.  It's a recent one.  Made by the same guy 
who did the 'Terminator' films and 'Aliens'--"

"I've never seen those," Scully told him.  "Like I said, not my 
sort of film.  Explosions and guns do not a masterpiece make, 
Mulder."

"If you'd seen them you would know that they actually do have 
plot along with the explosions.  What do you like in a film?"

"Oh," Scully leaned back, ignored the paperwork.  She was willing 
to talk about almost anything to ignore it. "Plot is good.  Good 
acting, directing, etc, of course." She smiled.  "Maybe a little 
romance, if it's not sappy." Then she smiled directly at him, 
teasing. "A really cute star..."

"Like me?  Think I should go Hollywood?"

She eyed him critically, then declared, "Stick to the FBI." No 
matter what she really thought, she was /not/ going to inflate 
his ego!

"I'm wounded, Scully.  But seriously, you have to see 'The 
Abyss.'  You're missing something good.  Hey," as if the idea had 
only just entered his head, "Why don't you watch it with me 
tonight?"

"Does that work on all the girls?"

Now he rolled his eyes. "Not a date."

"Just a movie at your house."

"And dinner.  How does pizza sound to you?"

Scully's stomach suddenly realized what time it was and spoke to 
her urgently. "Really good," she admitted.

"Then come on.  We need something relaxing to do."

"I thought /I/ was supposed to urge /you/ to relax."
Mulder grinned.  "I've got a doctorate too, you know."  And with 
a few more protests Scully agreed.

Which explained why she was now sitting on Mulder's couch with a 
paper plate on her lap, eating a pizza slice with everything 
while Mulder fiddled with the VCR.  It kept spitting the tape 
back out at him.  At last he gave the obstinate machine a thump 
with his fist, and it hastily sucked in the cassette.

He jumped onto the couch.  Scully noted that he seemed to be 
jumping everywhere, bouncy as a hyperactive child.  It made him 
look that age, actually.  She often noticed that Mulder managed 
to appear simultaneously five and thirty-five years of age; right 
now it was the younger half that was most prominent.

She had taken possession of the remote and as soon as he had 
settled onto the couch next to her she hit "play."  First she 
fast-forwarded through the previews, then the FBI warning flashed 
on.  

"Say, Scully, if I made and sold a copy, would you arrest me?"

"I'd have no choice, Mulder," she dead-panned back at him.

"Of course if you did it, then I'd be forced to cuff you..."

"Stop fantasizing, Mulder."

And the movie began.  Mulder went silent the moment the credits 
started to appear on the screen, gazing raptly as the title 
flashed to life.  Scully watched with a more detached air.  She 
didn't automatically think it was going to be a lousy movie, but 
neither was she to be won over by simple credits.

The movie moved quickly, she had to admit.  In no time a sub had 
gone down and DeepCore was called in to rescue it.  The 
underwater filming was well done, the actors weren't half-bad, 
and there was indeed a plot among the action.  It even had a 
little romance, and not overwhelming the movie, either.  The only 
thing she had mentioned that it lacked was the cute star; Ed 
Harris wasn't Harrison Ford, after all.  But he did have rather 
interesting eyes, very light blue.  She had seen Mulder's hazel 
eyes nearly that light in certain situations.  Right now they 
were dark and reflected the glow of the television like a mirror.

She snuck glances at her partner whenever she knew she could 
afford to miss seeing what was happening onscreen, which wasn't 
all that often.  As the movie progressed he slowly leaned closer 
toward the TV, until he had slid off the couch and was sitting on 
the floor by her legs.  He didn't say anything, but she 
eventually realized that he was mouthing most of the lines along 
with the actors.

"Mulder, how many times have you seen this?" she hissed.
He pulled himself back from the screen and smiled at her.  "Seven 
times, why?"

"Why do you want to see a film that you've seen so many times 
you've memorized it?"

"Scully," he said.  He managed to put tone in the whisper, a 
calm, patient tone she knew quite well.  He used it either when 
being his most logical, or when he was explaining the most wild 
theory he had for a particular case.  In this case it was the 
former use. "I memorize any film I've ever seen, no matter how 
many times I see it."

"Oh.  Yes."

"Don't tell me you forgot," he said, grinning.

"I don't have an eidetic--"

"Shh," he waved her quiet suddenly.  "This's an important part."

They watched a tentacle of water snake across the screen.  Scully 
was minorly impressed by the special effects; she knew that when 
the movie came out they must have been quite incredible.  
Computers had advanced a lot in the past eight years; what 
effects that were so astounding on the big screen then were found 
on TV shows now.

From then on neither of them spoke until the ending credits began 
to roll.  Scully started to rewind the tape.  Mulder removed his 
eyeballs from the screen and turned them onto her. "So," he 
demanded, "what do you think?"

Scully blinked.  "Okay," she said. "You were right."

"I was right?"

"That was a good movie.  I am glad that you didn't let me miss 
it."

His face lit up in a huge smile.  Just like a kid who's done 
something his mother approves of.

Now why, Scully wondered, am I always comparing him to children? 
 Because that's what he's like, another part of her mind replied. 
 Very intelligent, not really that immature, but he often seems 
to project an air of innocence.  As if he can't do wrong and he 
doesn't know anyone who can.  And /that/ was completely 
inaccurate; Mulder had had enough wrongs done to and around him 
to ruin the innocence of a dozen children.  Yet still...

"Isn't it great?  The special effects are great but I like the 
ideas in it even more."

"Yeah," Scully agreed. "It's nice to see aliens that aren't out 
to blow us up.  They were sort of corny in the end--"

"Scully!"

"Well, it was, with the chorus score and all, but I did like the 
idea."

Mulder nodded. "The novel made of it, it's better than a regular 
novelization, the novel is quite good.  Written by a top science 
fiction author and it expands on some of the ideas while still 
following the movie exactly.  If you're interested--"

"I don't read science fiction, Mulder."

"You said you didn't watch it, either."  He didn't give her time 
to form a comeback, instead ejected the first tape and stuck in 
the second. "Now this is a good movie, too, but that's mainly 
because of the special effects."  And he went quiet the same way 
he had before, as soon as the title "Independence Day" came on.

Scully was interested in the first part, when the flying saucers 
first appeared and everyone ran around wondering what to do.  She 
could see her partner in two of the roles.  Either he would be 
racing to warn the president, or he would be on a rooftop 
somewhere trying to get their attention.  She could also picture 
herself, trying to hold him back in either case.  Now that would 
be an interesting sight to wake up to, alien spacecraft hovering 
over the city and Mulder running around like crazy beneath them.

Then the aliens started their by-now-famous attack and blew the 
White House and in fact most of the agents' city of DC to its 
component atoms.  Scully supposed that the effects were probably 
even better in the cinema; on the TV they were excellent.  But 
after that...special effects couldn't hold her attention forever, 
not after the week she had had.  She dozed off when the scientist 
began to write an impossible computer virus.  Her last thought 
was that it would only work in a movie, so the characters were 
pretty lucky that they were in one at the time.

Scully awoke from an odd dream about the Abyss aliens fighting 
those from ID4 sometime later.  By the TV screen's dim blue light 
she checked her watch; it was almost two AM.  And she was 
apparently sleeping over at Mulder's apartment.  She considered 
leaving, but she thought that Mulder would mind more if she left 
than if she stayed.  Besides, she was quite comfortable at the 
moment.  

Unlike her partner.  Mulder was sprawled out on the floor, 
propped up against the couch, legs stretched out before him and 
his head tilted back, resting on the couch cushions.  He would 
have a bad crick in his neck from sleeping like that.  Scully 
reached out and shook his shoulder, to wake him up enough so that 
he'd change position.
At her touch his eyelids snapped open and he sat up.  "Scully?"

"I'm here, Mulder," she murmured reassuringly.  From the way he 
woke up, she guessed he had been dreaming.  Probably something 
unpleasant, the way he dreamed.  She kept her hand resting on his 
shoulder.

His eyes, though open, looked blank.  "Where...what..."

"We're at your house, and we're both fine," she assured him.  "Go 
to sleep."

She rubbed his shoulder.  His eyes closed and he settled back 
down in a more comfortable position.  She was half-asleep herself 
when he mumbled, "Scully?"

"Yes?"

"When they come, what will they be like?"

Scully heard the plaintive naivete in the question.  He sounded 
more like a child than ever.  Talking in his sleep, she decided. 
 

Still, it was a typical Mulder question.  There was no need to 
ask who "they" was.  And also, the wording.  Not if.  /When/ they 
come.  For Mulder, it was never a question that they existed.

There was no way she could have been his partner for this long 
without having thought of some of this already.  She answered his 
question in part the way she thought he wanted, and in part what 
she herself thought of it.  "If they come, I think they'll be 
like us.  Some of them will be good like in 'The Abyss' and some 
will be bad like in 'Independence Day' and most will just be 
there.  They'll talk to us and be confused and we'll talk to them 
and we won't always understand each other, but we won't always be 
fighting, either."

She wondered how true that really was.  If there were beings out 
there not from earth, and at this point she was almost convinced 
that there were, then they could be evil.  They might have 
kidnapped his sister.  They might burn people and examine people 
and kill people.  But humans did that, too.  And there were some 
people that were very close to being totally evil.  Just because 
some were bad guys didn't mean they all had to be.

She didn't say any thing more.  Mulder didn't either; his even 
breathing told her he was asleep.  In a few minutes she joined 
him.

Scully left the next morning, as soon as she and Mulder awoke.  
He didn't have much around for breakfast, so they went to Dunkin' 
Donuts together.  Then she ordered him to go shopping and to buy 
something to eat in the mornings that wasn't birdseed, bade him 
good-bye, and returned home for her missed bubble bath.
She saw him again on Monday of course.  Scully was at the office 
a good half hour before he got there.  He came in to see her 
closely examining a file.

"Good morning! What's that, our newest case?"

She didn't respond.  Mulder frowned and looked at his desk, 
papers covering it.  Was one of them a case file? "Did you finish 
up the paperwork from Friday?"

When she didn't reply, he strode over and stood looking down at 
her. "Scully!"

She started and folded the file hurriedly, meekly looked up at 
him towering overhead. "Yes?  Good morning, Mulder."

"Did you finish up the paperwork?" he repeated.

"Umm...no, I'm sorry, I didn't."

"Are you looking at a new case?"

Scully snuck a glance down at the file in her hands. "No, we 
haven't gotten one yet.  I think Skinner's letting us finish with 
the report from the last one."

"Letting us or making us?" Mulder asked wryly.  "If not a new 
case, then what, pray tell, are you examining so closely?"

In the dim light it was hard to see the little flush of pink in 
her cheeks.  "Nothing much."

"No, what?" He reached down and snatched the file from her hands 
before she could yank it away. "Scully, this case is from a year 
ago--" he began, then opened it up.  "Ahhh."

Scully covered her face with one hand.

"Now, Scully," he said, carefully laying the file down on the 
desk, "what have we here?"  And he lifted out the book she had 
been concealing in the file.

In the light the cover was ragged and beat up; it was a second-
hand book she had just bought the day before.  Nevertheless the 
title could be read clearly: /The Abyss/.

Scully looked from it to the smiling eyes of her partner.  "Now 
Scully," he began, and she knew he was going to play with this 
for a while afterwards, "I thought you didn't read sci-fi."



The End