DISCLAIMER: All together now! Mulder, Scully and the X Files belong to the good people of 1013 and Chris Carter et al. I'm not making any money with this, just having some fun. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor working girl with a mortgage and a car payment.

JUST A CLICK AWAY by Anna Barber

She had no idea how long she had been sitting in front of her computer. All you have to do is point and click, she thought, and it will be over. One click of the mouse button and her request for a transfer would be in Assistant Director Kersch's hands. All that would be needed was his signature and she had no doubt he would approve her request. After all it was what they wanted.

"If I quit now they win."

Those words seemed to echo through the darkened apartment even though she was certain she had not spoken them aloud. It had only been a few months since she had first spoken those words. The bond between them had seemed unbreakable then. What had happened between then and now?

Diana Fowley had happened.

Be fair, she chided herself, she had already happened. The X Files had already been given to her and to Jeffrey Spender. But something had changed between her and Mulder, and she couldn't explain it.

Just click the damn mouse and get it over with. Over. She laughed harshly. Could it ever really be over? Did she want to pursue a career with the FBI without the X Files, without Mulder? Could she? They'd been through so much together, she and Mulder.

God, I'm pathetic! Cassandra was dead, armaggedon had barely been stopped and all she could think about was herself. And Mulder.

Mulder. Face it Dana, she thought, Mulder is the crux of your problem. You've stood by him in the past irregardless of the danger or the potential damage to your career. If you weren't angry at him, would you request this transfer now? She tapped her fingers on the desk. Why are you so angry with him? For trusting Diana Fowley or not believing you? Or maybe, just maybe, you're jealous. Was that why you took such an immediate dislike to Diana? Is that why you went after her?

"NO!"

She jumped at the sound of her voice, she hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud. "Yes," she whispered, "a little." That admission disturbed her. Not that she'd gone after Diana, the evidence she'd found had justified it in her mind. No. What bothered her was that jealousy was the reason she'd done it in the first place.

I've fallen in love with him, she realized. How the hell did that happen? She'd built those wall around herself so carefully and focused so intently on her work that she hadn't noticed Mulder knocking them down ever so slowly until they'd reached that moment in the hallway. Afterward she'd written it off to the highly charged emotional state they'd both been in that afternoon. She'd pushed the reason for that emotional state out off her mind. Over the years she'd gotten really good at that. Gotten good at denial. Gotten good at burying her feelings, good at ignoring Mulder's playful innuendo. But it hadn't worked in the end, had it? You still fell in love with the jerk, hadn't you Dana?

So why are you so angry? He said he went to Diana's to search for proof of her complicity. Do you believe him? He risked his life to help you rescue Cassandra. He sent the Fowley woman ahead and went with you. In the end, he choose you. So why are you so angry with him?

She sat in front of her computer reading the document, her finger poised over the mouse button. A soft tapping at her door drew her attention away from the screen.

"Scully, it's me."

"Come in Mulder," she answered as she pressed the button.

A message box popped up. Are you sure you want to delete this file? Scully clicked on yes as her partner walked into the room.

END

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