“Chasing bear-person-things on mountains… Yeah.
Good thing you’re good at what you do, otherwise
it could be a lot worse.”
He certainly wasn’t jealous of their gig hunting monsters and aliens across the continent. There were already enough human monsters to worry about, and at least those were marginally predictable. Although that didn’t make it any less unsettling. It might actually be more relieving if you found the perpetrator of these horrific murders was a feral creature rather than a fellow sentient human being. But then he would never know that.
“You good?” he asked as he dabbed a little more around her eye, now demonstrating the “nice doctor” tone. The question was hardly called for since Scully didn’t so much as wince at the sting of the alcohol, no less than expected. He peeled off the plastic of a wound closure strip before placing it over the scrape and pressed his thumb down over it.
“There we are. One should be enough to hold it closed.”
For good measure, he kissed her forehead, then briefly flicked his gaze over to Mulder to see if he was looking, but the man was busying himself on the computer. Zeller took advantage of every opportunity to kiss Scully in front of Mulder, even though the other never acknowledged it, which bothered Zeller all the more. Pulling away, he brushed a hand down the back of her head and smiled down at her.
“Now I cure you of all your ailments.”
“Mind curing me next?” asked a Mulder in his trademark deadpan voice. Zeller looked over at him with an equally deadpan expression and replied, “I do, actually.”
“Ouch,” the other chuckled without looking up from the computer screen. Zeller’s stiff smile relaxed as he returned his gaze to Scully.
“Wanna go grab a cup of coffee?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
It’s a relatively tiny amount of pain, nothing that she cannot handle. Paper cuts have a habit of simmering with more intensity. It is simply inconvenient to have a scab breaking every time she has a bad blink, and slightly less manageable than the bruises and aches that span the rest of her body, hidden beneath her carefully ironed pantsuit.
As his lips brush against her forehead, a slight smile flirts with the corners of her mouth. However, she swallows it back almost immediately when she feels Mulder’s stare boring through her. She has been very aware of the rivalry that seemed to surface as soon as she and Zeller expressed mutual interest in each other, and though she highly disapproves of it on both a personal and professional level, she has not yet spoken out against it. Perhaps foolishly, she had assumed that it would fade away as they grew used to each other, but with every passing day, that hope seems increasingly misplaced.
Then they start lampooning each other again. Bright blue eyes flick between the two men, following their volley with an intensity that suggests that she is ready to step in and interfere if necessary. Before she has too, Zeller offers her an escape, and she almost immediately responds.
“I would love to.”
Almost immediately, she stands, straightening the sleeves of her blazer before she crosses to the door, holding it open so that the other agent might pass through it. Before she follows Zeller out, she offers Mulder a playful glance and a small smirk.
“Try not to get eaten by Mexican
Goat Suckers while I’m gone, Mulder.”
It’s a well-intentioned joke, but she doubts that it will be swallowed well under these circumstances, and, indeed, he barely even looks at her before mumbling a quick,
“Okay.”
When the door closes behind them and they are left in the relative safety of the rest of the basement, where Mulder cannot overhear, she addresses the elephant in the room.
“You don’t have to attack him every time
you two share a room, you know. There’s
nothing worth fighting over, and, frankly,
it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.”