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Title: Erin 05. Shall We Dance Author: RaEnright Erin Series Written: October 25,1995 Disclaimer: All right, you all know the routine. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully belong to CC, the irrepresible Erin Mulder and the underwritten Mike Mulder <I'm into adjectives today> are mine, just to be clear. 'The King and I' is a cool movie and you all should watch it sometime. Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. Yow! This occurs about two months after Links and three after The Message<sniff> in my Erin chronology. July 10, 1995 Mulder dropped his coat on the floor as he came in and almost fell onto the couch. What a rotten day. Overdue paperwork, Skinner on a roll, and Scully sick at home with the flu, insisting she didn't want him over there getting sick because of her. He felt it best to defer to her; She'd have his guts for garters if he didn't, anyway. He reached behind him and flicked the message machine on. <click>"Hi, this is Fox Mulder, leave a message and I'll get back to you." <beep> Hi, Mulder, it's Frohike. Call me. Can't discuss it over the phone. *not right now, Fro. I've got a headache.* <beep> Baby, it's mom. *Oh, lord.* Just wanting to confirm dinner on Sunday. Are you doing all right, hon? Love you... <beep>Yo, it's Erin. Wow, great message, Fox. Real imaginative, you know? Anyway, I know you're kinda mad at me, but I thought I'd call, see how you were doing, apologize, you know, that sorta thing. Mike says hi. Man, you know that 'The King and I' is on tonight, right? Seemed like a total Fox Mulder kinda movie. And...um, no...that's all. So, there it is...bye! *Go away, Erin.* The machine whirred one last time and died. Ah, well, at least Skinner hadn't called to chew him out over the phone. That would have been truly miserable. Compounded by the fact that it was Friday night and he didn't even have the energy to move, the week had been completely awful. *look at it this way, it can only go up from here.* Yeah, right, whatever. He reached for the TV remote and tried to find something boring to fall asleep to. Scully was asleep when the phone rang--but since it was right next to her ear, she wasn't that way for long. "Hello," she answered groggily. "Friendly neighborhood psycho checking up. Care to donate to the starving teenager fund?" a young voice crackled over the phone. "Dana, you sound horrible." "Thanks, Erin." Scully mumbled. "I feel wonderful, too." "You sick?" "No, just running a temperature and sitting here with a box of tissues next to me for fun. Don't you ever do that?" "Jeez, sorry." Scully could imagine Erin rolling her eyes. "Anyway, thought I'd call and bug you. What's up? You holding up okay?" "*I* am up, now. And I've told you, I'm okay." "Oops. Well, totally, I thought you'd like to know...um, I can't talk to Fox about it, cause we aren't 'zactly on the best of terms...he had a really weird dream last night." "What happened between you two?" "Umm....I'm working on it. Dana, this is confusing me and I think I need some help." Erin fell back on the phrase from the first days with clan Mulder, while she was still adjusting to the new life. She must be at a loss, indeed. Dana shifted on the couch, nestling deeper into the blankets. "Yes?" "See--he dreamed about you, and I don't know if I should tell *him*, because I sorta told him I wasn't gonna hold his hand anymore--it's a long story, but basically this dream was seriously warped. I mean, we're talking Twilight Zone." "And...you're worried about his emotional state?" Dana asked. Well, that was natural. One did tend to worry about Mulder's emotional state. Unstable was probably the best you could call it. "He dreamed he *killed* you." Erin's voice intruded on her thoughts. She sat a little straighter. "*What*?" "We were at a gravesite--and he was there, and I just--he knew he'd done it, but he didn't know how, and he was scared, and *I* was scared...I know it wasn't *my* dream..." "Erin." Dana began. "You know...what happened to me...before we met you?" "When you were in the hospital?" "Exactly. And he carries a lot of that around with him. He didn't reach the site in time...and he feels guilty about that. It's just part of who he is." Erin sighed. "I'm gonna have to learn to put up with it, is that it?" "Pretty much. Are you all right with that?" "Not much choice. Could be worse. Yeah, I can stand it. But you're sure it's not some abnormal thing or anything?" Erin said philosophically. "Well, define abnormal." Dana smiled. Erin laughed. "Good point. Hey, know what's on TV tonight?" "ER reruns?" "The King And I. Ever seen that movie?" "A few times." "Turn it on, and check this out..." "You see what I mean?" Scully wiped her nose on a tissue and nodded, her eyes on the movie on TV. Then she realized Erin couldn't see her and spoke up. "It's certainly got some interesting undertones." "Oh, I don't know. Stubborn, scientific woman meets stubborn, superstitious man, they clash, argue, debate...fall in love..." "Not dropping any subtle hints, are we?" Scully asked. "Who, me? Maybe you're reading something into it, hm?" Erin asked innocently. "I've got to go. Call Fox, would you?" "Is that an order, captain?" "Nope, just a suggestion. And...never mind. You know, I like the scene where the king is all confused about what the truth of the matter is." "Me too," Scully muttered as she hung up. "Seems awfully familiar somehow..." "This is a completely insane movie," Mulder commented to nobody in particular. "Bad song lyrics, dull plot..." Well, what's the harm in talking to oneself? As long as nobody answers... The bald man--he guessed he was 'The King'--had just finished talking to his son and was trying his damndest to figure out what was going on. "But I do not know...in my head are many facts that I am not sure." Oh, please...Yul Brynner doing soul searching. Musically. This he could live without. Still, he didn't change the channel. "Shall I join with other nations in alliance? If allies are weak am I not best alone? If allies are strong with power to protect me, might they not protect me out of all I own?" Well, that was certainly true. "Is a danger to be trusting one another, One will seldom want to do what other wishes; but unless some day somebody trusts somebody, There'll be nothing left on earth excepting fishes." After a line like that, what else is there to do but watch through to the end? Besides, he wanted to see if the guy killed the woman. Mulder started out of the half doze he'd fallen into when the phone rang. He almost fell off the couch fumbling for the phone. When he finally got the reciever to his ear, he snarled, "Mulder." "Hi, it's me." Scully sounded congested. "Thank god. I was about to go into sugar shock." he groaned. She smiled. "Pardon?" "Some movie on TV." "Let me guess; The King and I." "How did you know?" They both thought of it at once. "Erin." Mulder snorted. "How can she possibly like this? It's..." "Normal?" Scully suggested. "Romantic? Moral? Rated G?" "I was thinking along the lines of sappingly sweet." he corrected. Scully looked back at the television. "It's not that bad." "Oh really?" "No, it's not. The best song is coming up." "What's that?" he asked, half interested. She sounded awful. "Shall We Dance." "I don't think that's possible, Scully, you see you're over there and I'm over here. Now, according to the laws of nature as we know them..." Mulder cracked. "Shh," she hushed him. "Just listen." Shall we dance? Mulder groaned. "Come on..." "Just wait." "Shall we dance? When the last little star has left the sky, On a clear understanding that this kind of thing can happen "You can't be enjoying this. She's teaching him to *dance*!" "It's a great song." "Must be a woman thing." "You'll pay for that." "Is he in his pajamas?" "Just be quiet." "He's hitting on her." "Will you shut up?" He did. After a few minutes of watching, Scully began to hum along. "Shall we dance? hm hm hm hm hmm shall we dance? She stopped. "Mulder? Mulder?" He snored lightly into the phone. "Figures. Mulder, wake up." "What? Hm?" "You slept through it." "I'm sure I'll regret it." "Not a romantic bone in your body, is there?" "Hey!" "Well?" "Hey Scully." he grinned into the reciever. "Shall we dance? I'm ready to waltz the phone around the room, on your mark. And if I trip over the phone cord, I'm suing you." "Not this time, Mulder. Good effort, though." He gave a mock-sigh. "It's the thought that counts, right? Do I really have to watch the rest of this?" "It's on again at nine." "So?" "Want to come watch it over here? I have snacks." "I thought you didn't want me getting sick." "Misery loves company." "I'll see you at nine." He clicked the reciever down and switched the television off. He could sleep through the end as well at Scully's as he could in his own apartment. The END Erin Chronology:
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