Scully's Girl

Chapter 7

7

Scully woke earlier than was typical for her. The digital clock on the bedside table read five-thirty A.M. Rather than lying awake in bed, tossing and turning in a futile attempt at getting back to sleep, she decided to shower and dress.

Vicki was sound asleep, curled up on her side with both hands under her head. Scully smiled down at her. She didn’t know exactly what it was that she felt for the girl, didn’t know if it was the first stirrings of love, or merely a crush. But there was definitely something there. Some sort of connection that went deeper than sexual attraction.

She walked down to the newspaper box that stood almost directly in front of her apartment complex, and purchased the day’s paper.

Sitting down at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of coffee, she opened up the paper.

The first headline to catch her eye declared ‘NCIS Agent Killed’. Below this was a black and white photograph of a woman in a bulky NCIS jacket, with her hair tucked up underneath her cap, her hands clasped behind her as she gazed seriously into the camera.

“Kate,” Dana Scully whispered, tears springing to her eyes. “Oh, Kate.”

Kaitlin Todd had been a close friend of Dana Scully’s (her best friend, in fact) back in their early teen years in junior high school. They had drifted apart over the years, as often happens with even very close childhood friendships. Then, five years or so ago, Scully had received an e-mail from Kate. From that day on, they had been communicating with each other regularly via e-mail. Their friendship had picked right up again, and it had felt just like old times.

The two of them had always possessed a number of character traits in common, and it was not surprising that both women had ended up with the title of ‘Special Agent’ before their names, Kaitlin Todd in the Naval Crime Investigative Services, and Dana Scully herself in the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

The last time they had e-mailed each other had been one short week ago. Kate had told Scully about a fellow NCIS Agent who had been laid low with a case of anthrax, which he had been exposed to in a letter sent to the NCIS Headquarters. Her e-mail had concluded with the assurance that Tony had pulled through, and the sentiment that life was short, and that Scully should bite the bullet and tell her own co-worker how she felt about him.

And then, just yesterday, probably while Scully’s would-be boyfriend was sleeping off a hangover on her living room couch, and Scully herself was having passionate afternoon sex with her girlfriend, her closest childhood friend had been shot between the eyes by a terrorist sniper.

“’Morning, Dana,” Vicki greeted her, walking into the kitchen. “What’s the matter?” She walked over to stand behind Scully’s chair, glancing over her shoulder at the newspaper open on the table. “Did you know her?”

“She was an old friend from middle school,” Scully replied, rubbing the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. “We were close.”

“I’m sorry, Dana.” Vicki gave Scully’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, and Scully reached up to lay her own hand over the girl’s.

***

When Scully walked into their shared office Mulder immediately noticed the puffiness of her eyes and the still-damp trails of recently shed tears glistening on her cheeks.

“Are you all right, Scully?” He inquired concernedly, standing up from his chair and walking toward her.

“I’m fine,” she sniffled. “It’s just…I just found out an old friend of mine…died yesterday.”