All Eyes Lead to the Truth | The Rain King (6x08)
Sheila had initially agreed to attend the high school reunion because she wanted to see how much everyone had changed over the past twenty years. Mostly, Sheila wanted everyone to see how much she had changed. Unfortunately, she didn’t anticipate she would end up running into the gymnasium bathroom, with the same old seafoam green tiling, trying her best to hold back tears as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest all because of a boy.
In 1979, Holman’s encouraging voice was what coaxed her out of this room.
In 1999, his confession of love was what sent her in.
She couldn’t blame the redhead for being jealous, but enlisting Holman in her attempt to keep Agent Mulder for herself was downright mean. Her relationship with Holman was the most important and healthy relationship she’d ever had. She’d had fleeting thoughts of what it would be like to be with him romantically, but she’d always found a way to talk herself out of it. Her luck with men was always so bad, and he was too important to risk losing. Besides, he’d heard her drone on and on about her unsuccessful love life. There was no way he would ever want to get involved with her when she was such a mess. He was too smart to want to spend his life with someone as unstable as her. So now, hearing him say those words with such passion, knowing that it was all a ruse to keep her away from Agent Mulder, felt like a cruel, childish prank, and suddenly she felt like the insecure teenage girl who would cry over this very sink twenty years ago.
Sheila tried not to betray her hurt when the short woman rushed in and made up some lame excuse. Instead, she decided that, unlike when she was a teenager, she would stand up for herself.
“You love him, don’t you?”
Agent Scully obviously wasn’t expecting that Sheila would call her bluff. “What?” she whispered.
The agent was delusional if she thought she was doing a good job hiding her feelings these past few days. “You’re jealous because Agent Mulder and I have a special connection and you’re trying to divert me to Holman.”
Then, more composed than the first time, the woman repeated, “What?”
Sheila’s confidence faltered at the sincere look of confusion on Agent Scully’s face. “What do you mean ‘what’? I’ve seen how you look at him. I saw you fondling him in the motel parking lot.”
Agent Scully’s eyes widened as she vehemently shook her head. “I-I did not fondle Mulder.”
“Yes, you did. You were standing between his legs, running your fingers through his hair, and rubbing his muscles,” she countered.
“I wasn’t-” she started, before weakly offering, “I’m a doctor. I was just making sure he wasn’t hurt.”
Turning to the mirror and fixing her hair, Sheila mumbled, “Yeah? Well, I’ve never seen Dr. Quinn look like she wanted to get it on with her patients.”
A heavy silence hung between them until Agent Scully spoke up. “Sheila, there’s nothing going on between me and Agent Mulder. We’re just friends… partners. That’s it.”
With a sigh, Sheila asked, “He’s handsome, charming, and respectful. You’re telling me you’re not attracted to a man like that?”
If it wasn’t for the tiles amplifying the noise in the bathroom, Sheila probably wouldn’t have heard the agent reply: “I didn’t say that.”
Sheila turned to look at the woman and was struck by the look of discomfort on her face. This wasn’t a high school bully playing an elaborate prank to embarrass her, this was a woman confiding in a fellow woman in the safety of the ladies' room.
Agent Scully had the same look in her eye Holman did after she said she loved him too. What Sheila could now identify as resigned acceptance.
She wasn’t fooling Sheila though, “Have you told him you love him?”
Agent Scully licked her lips and made small adjustments to her pantsuit, as if her professional clothes being in place would help make her denial sound like the truth. “Our relationship has always remained platonic.”
“I’m sorry,” Sheila offered sincerely.
“For what?” Agent Scully asked with a furrowed brow.
“It must be hard spending so much time around someone you love and not being able to say how you really feel,” Sheila explained, her stomach churning as she remembered the look on Holman’s face when she ran to the bathroom.
The woman shook her head with a thoughtful smile. “I’m very happy with my friendship with Agent Mulder.”
“Happy with it or too scared to lose it?” Sheila asked, getting her answer when the agent’s smile faltered.
“I think it makes Holman sad,” Sheila sighed. “I didn’t realize how he felt, but now looking back… I feel like I’m seeing all of our interactions in a new light.”
“I think he just wants you to be happy,” Agent Scully replied, leaning her hip against one of the porcelain sinks. “He might be sad if his feelings aren’t reciprocated, but if your friendship is as strong as I think it is, you won’t lose him.”
“Is that advice for you or me?” Sheila asked.
Agent Scully just smiled and dropped her gaze to the floor.
“I really thought there was something between you two,” Sheila confessed. Then unable to hold back her curiosity, she pried, “Not even a kiss?” The agent shook her head, and Sheila felt bad the woman didn’t know what she was missing out on.
They didn’t get to stay in the restroom for much longer before they had to run back out to the gymnasium. Scully took off to find Mulder, and Sheila was left looking out into the darkness until a bolt of lightning illuminated the dancefloor, revealing Holman sitting with his head in his hands.
At that moment, she realized the switch had always been flicked. She just needed to open her eyes.
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