Shorts

Te Duem Part 4

Continuation of Te Duem

Scully pov

Mulder fainted.

Shit, Scully thought. Shit. Shit. SHIT. Mulder's entire torso slumped forward, and she was barely able to hold him up with her petite frame. She grunted as she shoved him upward, forcing him to lean against the pale brown wall behind him. His head drooped awkwardly to the left, but it was all right - at least he was supported by the wall and mostly out of sight.

Scully was quick to come up with an excuse, flipping her titian hair out of her face. "It, uh, it's a side effect of his new medication," she lied in a whisper. Being a doctor, she knew perfectly well that Motrin didn't have these particular side effects; the only one, in fact, was nausea. And that was rare in itself. But, she figured, Harriet wouldn't bother to ask what his medication was. Even if she were to do so, Scully doubted she knew enough about medicine to know that Scully was lying.

But Scully was wrong. "What's his medication? I went to med school before resorting to dance," Harriet inquired, stepping out of the office and pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. "He could just be coming down with something. He feels warm," she said in a low voice. She then pressed her fingetips to his carotid artery, checking for a pulse.

"That's, er, that's probably it," Scully agreed, although she was nearly positive that wasn't it. Mulder was never sick, and this was no side effect of the Motrin. This was something else entirely. "He gets sick all the time," she lied again, silently praying that God would show her mercy. And that Harriet would believe her.

Harriet eyed Scully quizzically, and Scully knew it was because she had dodged Harriet's first question. "Oh and, uh, he's on propranolol," Scully fibbed. Mulder was the last person she'd ever think of to have high blood pressure, but that didn't matter.

Harriet nodded. "That can cause lightheadedness, you know," she stated, and for some reason her tone angered Scully. It was as if she was suggesting that Scully didn't know what she was talking about. Then Harriet lowered her voice even further. "However if it is his blood pressure fluctuating, I would get him to a hospital."

Scully began to get irritated. "I'm his doctor. If you think his blood pressure needs checking, I have a medical bag out in my car," she hissed, and Harriet nodded. Scully wasn't actually concerned at all about Mulder’s blood pressure, but was more so hoping to shut the studio owner up.

"I think that would be smart," Harriet said, folding her arms.

Scully grinned. "Okay, great," she said in the most fake happy voice she could muster. "While I do that, can you can bring him in to your office and away from prying eyes?"

Harriet bit her bottom lip, clearly not fond of the idea. "But if a parent comes up to pay something after these classes end they may be disturbed. Couldn't we take him to the dressing room?"

Scully wanted to laugh out loud. What did this woman expect to do? Drag an unconscious man past hordes of already suspicious parents, and then to make things even better, take him back into the girl's dressing room? She began to worry that the woman was crazy.

Harriet seemed to catch to Scully's unease and widened her eyes. "I know what you're thinking, but listen here: in about five minutes all the parents get to go into the classrooms and take pictures of their kids and whatnot. As long as they all go in, dragging him right by the classrooms will be no problem. No one will see a thing."

Drag him on the gross floor? But he just got that suit! Scully groaned inwardly. "What if a particularly suspicious parent decides not to go in?" she inquired, taking a quick look at Mulder.