TITLE:  Gentle Words
AUTHOR: Erin M. Blair
E-MAIL: eblair@sonic.net / erinmblair@gmail.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. 
DISTRIBUTION: OK to Gossamer, Ephemeral, MSR
Fanfic Cheerleaders Archive. Others -- please let me 
know where it's archived. 
RATING: PG
CATEGORIES: SRA -- Story, Romance, Angst. 
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance.   
SPOILERS: One Breath.
DISCLAIMER: Mulder and Scully belong to Chris Carter.
SUMMARY: Scully seeks comfort in Mulder's arms and
his reassuring words.
NOTES: Thanks to Jen for beta reading this story for me.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Scully finally came to me late this evening, claiming that 
her nightmares were back with a vengeance. I didn't know 
what she wanted me to do in order to help her, but I'll try 
to do what I could. I led her to my leather couch and we 
both sat down. For about five minutes, we were in silence. 
I wasn't sure which one of us would break the silence. She 
finally told me: "I want gentle words."

"Gentle what?"

"Gentle words, Mulder." She paused. "I want you to hold me 
and to reassure me that things will be better. Talk to me 
using your beautiful low voice, almost near to a whisper. 
Whenever you use that tone, you have the habit of making me 
feel safe."

This was one of Scully's rarer moments when she finally 
admitted when things weren't quite right with her. She 
always used her code words with me. It was hard for her to 
reveal her deep feelings towards me. There were times when 
I could tell, based on my own observations, that she wanted 
me to comfort her, to reassure her that everything would be 
all right. She let me put my arms around her and pull her 
in for an embrace. "But you are safe, Scully. You have been 
for a long time now."

"Not when I'm asleep in my bed, Mulder." She took a deep 
breath and her eyes focused on me. There were unshed tears 
in her blue eyes. She looked as though she was trying to 
hold back her emotions, but she was unsuccessful. "My 
nightmares... are about my abduction. I'm remembering 
more of what happened to me. I feel violated. They took a 
part of me out of my body. I can't let these memories 
take... my control away from me."

"Scully, that's why you were crying in the next room," I 
said. 

"I didn't know you could hear me."

"Motel walls are thin," I replied. "You know that. You must 
have heard my own personal hell through those walls."

She nodded. "Yes, I have." 

"We'll get through our personal hell together, Scully." I 
turned to look at her. She was nodding at what I just said. 
I think she understood that this partnership, which started 
simply as partners for work became so much more than that. 
We were partners in every single meaning of the term. We 
might not be lovers, but my emotions for her ran deep 
within me. I have trouble trying to imagine a time when she 
didn't mean a thing to me.

"I know. We will be all right. I don't know how I know 
this, but I feel that we're going to be fine. Call it 
intuition, faith in a higher power, whatever. Mulder, I 
have plenty of faith for the both of us. I believe that it 
will give us the strength to face any obstacle ahead." 

I smiled. Suddenly, everything seemed to stop for a moment. 
This was the time when I took notice that this was the 
right time to explore our deeper feelings for each other. I 
looked over at her beside me and I knew she was right. We 
had our strength in each other's beliefs. I once told her 
that while she was in a coma. I remembered how I knew that 
she was going to be fine. She was so beautiful. I loved 
gazing into those clear blue eyes of hers. "Then I believe 
the same thing, Scully."

~~~
The End