#post fire

Dana hates cancelling plans on people, and this is the fourth time she’s cancelled plans with Ellen and Trent after the boy’s birthday. She can almost see those disappointed eyes, which strangely remind her of Mulder’s eyes when things aren’t going his way.

Her mind quickly conjures up the images of Mulder being angry and disappointed at himself for freezing up at the sight of fire at the hotel the other night.

Now is not a good time nor a good thing to be thinking about Mulder and his eyes.

“How’s the cutie?”

“Who?”

“Your cutie partner. It’s better calling him the cutie than the jerk, don’t you think? It’s something I’m trying with the kids, to say what’s good instead of what’s bad.”

“Is this another experiment of yours on the power of language?”

“No, this is me asking how your cutie partner’s doing.”

Dana sighs again. “Mulder’s fine.”

“If he’s fine, why the sigh?”

Silence takes over for a few seconds before Dana speaks again. She misses talking to her friend about guys and dating.

“His ex-girlfriend came, hoping he would help solve a case. Scotland Yard, Ellen! Long story short, I saw them kissing and I was...”

“Jealous?”

“No, I wasn’t jealous. I was annoyed. I thought it was unprofessional. The woman is manipulative and cunning and bossy, and she was pushing Mulder around, and he just let her...”

“The Dana Scully I know never gets jealous.”

“You’re right, I wasn’t jealous.”

Dana can hear her friend’s sarcastic nod through the phone lines.

“I’m not.” She persists.

“Yeah, usually you’d just dump his sorry ass and white-out his name from your address book.” Ellen says dryly. “Maybe you’re upset because you think he’s all about work, but it turns out Cutie’s not immune to love. Which brings me to my next question: you never went out with Rob again, did you?”

Dana contemplates telling Ellen that Rob was a bore, and thinks about defending Mulder even though she isn’t sure what to say. So, she says instead, “Ellen, I’ll make it up to you and Trent next time.”

“Dana, you can also just be concerned about a friend. You said she was manipulative and cunning, so you just don’t want a friend to get hurt. It’s okay to be concerned for a friend.”

“Right. And you forgot bossy.”

Ellen snickers. “She’s bossier than you?”

“Ellen!”

“People care about their friends’ well-being and want them to be in love with the right people. It’s perfectly normal.” Ellen stresses; she can almost see Dana nodding in agreement to her words on the other side of the phone lines. “Why else would I care how your cutie’s doing?”

Ellen laughs into the phone as Dana unsuspectingly falls into the trap she’s set up earlier; Dana’s frustrated groan makes her giddy. For a medical doctor/FBI agent, Dana can be awfully dense sometimes.