~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully glanced up at the clock. 4:47. She sighed, wishing 5:00 would come faster. Mulder looked up from the file he was reading. He smiled slightly. He could see she was restless. She wanted to go home, he knew she did. She and Mulder started referring to the time period between 4:30 to 5:00 as "Eternity." One minute passed like 20 years.

"Know how long eternity is, Scully?"

"A half an hour?" she asked. He smiled.

"Think of it this way, " he said. "Imagine you have a steel ball the size of the earth. And imagine that on that ball, there's an ant, one ant, just walking around this thing. Now, once that ant has walked around this ball over and over again, until its worn down into nothing and the ant falls into space....eternity hasn't even begun."

She stared at him.

"Don't tell me that now!"

" Why? It makes," he looked at the clock, "Twelve minutes seem like the blink of an eye."

"Mmm," she said with a sigh, and went back to work with a grunt. The phone rang and Mulder picked it up.

"Mulder.........yeah, hold on a second." He looked at her and extended the phone. "For you, madame." She raised an eyebrow and went to his desk, taking the receiver from him.

"Scully."

"Dana?" a woman voice asked.

"Yes?"

"This is Emma Heckman."

Scully's heart stopped.

"Emma?" she stuttered. "Hi, h-how are you?"

"I'm fine. Look....me, Beth, and Heidi are getting together tonight. We wanted to know if you'd like to join us? You know, have the whole gang together again! Its been nearly 20 years!"

"Y-yes, its been ages," Scully replied, looking at Mulder. He was staring at her, noticing her obvious discomfort. "Sure, I'll come."

"Great! We're bringing along dates, so you might want to do that, too," Emma said cheerfully. "We're meeting at Mama Maria's at 7:30. See you there!" *Click*

Scully's mouth dropped slightly, phone still at her ear. She closed her eyes, and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Mulder asked as Scully walked back across the room, and slumped back in her chair.

"Satan," she answered in a mumble. He looked at her questioningly. She sighed. "Emma Heckman. She was an...... acquaintance of mine in highschool."

"Acquaintance?" Mulder's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah....look, Mulder, I just accepted an invitation to a night of hell and humiliation. And need someone to come with me. Could you join me? As a favor?"

Mulder shrugged.

"Yeah, sure, Scully," he said. "But what's wrong with these people? Why don't you like them?"

"I'll explain later," she said standing up. She pointed to the clock. "Time to go."

"When should I pick you up?"

"About seven."

"See you then."

"Bye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder knocked on Scully's door, tugging at his tie. He was early and he knew it, but he decided it was better safe than sorry. Scully opened the door, wearing a silk bathrobe, no makeup, hair wet.

"What are you doing here? You're twenty minutes early."

"Would you rather have me twenty minutes late?"

She smiled.

"Good point," she said, stepping back to let him in. "You look nice," she added. He wore a suit she had never seen before. It was dark gray, his tie was new, too. Diagonal stripes, two different shade of green.

"You look like a prom queen, too," he said, tugging at the sleeve of her robe. She smiled, rolling her eyes. "Scully, be honest. Tell me what's bothering you. Why don't you want to go tonight?" he asked, making his way to the couch. He heard her sigh.

"Okay....during high school, I hung out with these people. And my best friend, Brenda. Well, I got to be really good friends with Emma, and started to ignore Brenda. Brenda moved away to Tokyo a year later. When she left, Emma started ignoring me. So did the others. They completely abandoned me. They would hardly even utter a word to me, and when they did, they couldn't even make eye contact with me. It hurt me so much."

"I'm sorry, Scully."

"Why? I'm not. It was just another experience in life. Anyways, I was depressed for about a year," she said, going to her bedroom. "I couldn't express myself to anyone, so did in words. On paper." She emerged from the room, a paper in her hand. "When Brenda was gone, I felt so guilty. My parents told me that Emma and her friends were mean to me. I didn't think so, not until Brenda had moved. They told me that she was the only one that really cared about me, the others didn't. I didn't believe them. Once she was gone, I realized how right they were. I was so wrong. She was the only friend I had, and she was gone. I waited and waited for her to come home to visit. This is something I wrote when I was sixteen. It expresses everything I felt, so that's why I didn't throw it away like the others. I only needed this one piece of paper to remind me of that time in my life," she said, handing it to him. "I'm going to go get dressed. I'll be ready in a while, okay?"

He took the paper from her hands, nodding. She turned and left. He looked at the paper, and began to read.

The Awaiting

Alone, I sit. Awaiting the end. An end which will never come.
I am annoyed, bored, anticipating. Counting down every second
till I may finally earn the respect and friendship I once had, but lost.
I love my enemies. Once three people I was joined at the hip with.
But distance, the attitude separated me from them. And the three
remain together; I walk, unhinged, toward the light. I'm starting
to see through the thick cloud of darkness I have been wandering
in for the past year. A mist which unexpectedly settled over me, unannounced,
un-noticed. Like a room slowly filling with a deadly colorless gas, I realize
what is happening when it's too late. I am shattered, hurt, desperate for
someone to save me from this river of pain that I'm slowly drowning in.
Pull me from these waters that I am dying from. So cold, so numb.
No feelings, no emotions. I am the child that cries in the night that has no
comfort and consoling until I feel myself slip off into my dreams. The bindings
of my soul loosen and I am gone. Sucked into a whirling vortex, a backwards
tornado that has such a powerful grip on me, I can no longer struggle free
from the life-crushing grasp. My body and soul grow weak. I am losing the battle...
and I slowly rise. Now, falling, into an isolated and desolate world where I am
the population and you are merely a cloud. A cloud with the others, up in the sky.
Beautiful, together, brilliant. You seem so close but are so far away and fargone
that the very idea of reaching out is ridiculous. Inner turmoil drives me further
from my sanity. Blackness. The world is in hues of black and white, shaded in with
gray. Or is it blue? Frozen in an icecube, longing to be set free as the people pass
by me, unnoticing. Yet they stare, just off to the side of me, feigning a laugh, acknowledging
my presence with ignorance. It hurts me more than dull knives or the hottest flame.
And there I sit, by myself. Alone. Awaiting.

When he was done, he felt angry and upset. He was amazed how he could feel her pain. He re-read it. She emerged just as he finished. He stood up, looking at her. Black dress, fairly tight, thick shoulder straps, the hem came just above her knees. He gaped at her a little while. Her hair was parted as usual, but there was a large spiral curl on one side of her face, her hair pulled back behind her ear in a barrett, curled, on the other side of her face. He realized she was aware of his gawking when she blushed and looked down at her high-heeled feet.

"You look lovely," he said.

"Thank you."

"Scully....that paper....."

"I shouldn't have shown you that, huh?" she said. He moved to her, and she was surprised when he pulled her against him, arms around her gently.

"No. I'm glad you did. I'm sorry, I had no idea," he said, careful not to ruin her hair as he held her. Her hands slid up his chest and pushed back a little, but not in a way to offend him.

"It's okay, Mulder. It happened a long time ago. I'm okay," she said reassuringly. "I needed that about 20 years ago. Where were you then?"

"College, I think." He smiled, moving away from her.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that age difference. Let's go, old timer," she said, grinning.

"Call me that again and you can take a cab to the restaurant."

"I guess you're so old you forgot we're at my apartment. I could take my own car, Grandpa."

"Hey!" he cried, smiling. She laughed and went to the door. He decided to go along with the old-age jokes. "Wait for me, will ya? You young whipper-snappers....you have no patience!" he said, coming to the door. They both laughed and went out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder and Scully got the Mama Maria's just in time. They asked for their table. The waiter led them to a large table, were three couples sat. They looked at them and smiled. "That's Emma," Scully whispered, pointing to the slightly overweight woman at the opposite of side of the table.

"Dana!" the women cried out in delight. The men nodded at Mulder.

"Hi, you guys! How are you?" Scully asked. They all talked a million miles an hour. Mulder pulled out the chair for Scully to sit in. She looked at him and smiled, sitting down. He pushed her chair in and sat next to her.

"Well? Introduce us!" Emma demanded.

"This is Fox Mulder-"

"Are you married?" she interrupted.

"No," Scully said, feeling crimson rise in her cheeks. Mulder squirmed nervously.

"Oh. We're all married, are you married at all?" Emma said rudely.

"No, I'm not married. Neither of us are."

"Divorced, huh?"

"No. I have NEVER been married, Emma."

"Oh," Emma said, her face falling, looking down at her wine glass. Scully looked around the table.

"Mulder and I are partners. Anyways, Mulder, this is Heidi, and this is Beth," she said, indicating the two blonde women.

"Hi," Mulder said. They both smiled. The men were introduced as wel: Kyle, Nate, and Justin. But they remained mostly silent most of the night. Mulder sighed and looked at his watch. This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After an evening of listening to Emma talk about herself, and having the other two talk about how great the three of them were, Mulder and Scully were ready to leave. The only thing that made the evening decent and not a complete waste. Scully looked at her watch. "It's getting late," she said. "We probably had better get going."

"Oh, no!"

"Not yet!"

"Oh, Dana!"

Fake protests filled the room. Scully got up, Mulder followed.

"It's been nice seeing you again," Scully said. Mulder took Scully's arm with a 'good-bye' and they headed out the door. As soon as they got outside.

"You hung out with those people?!" he said.

"Yeah....I can hardly believe it sometimes myself."

"Scully....I'm telling you this right now, you're NOT like them."

"I know that. I don't know what I was doing with them in the first place," she said as they got to the car. "Know what, though?"

"What?"

"I think I'll stick with you."

He looked at her with a soft smile. They got in their car and drove back to her apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder pulled over next to the sidewalk outside her apartment. She unbuckled her seatbelt and sighed. She looked over at him and took his hand.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"I really appreciate your being here, Mulder. I can't thank you enough for coming tonight. I would have gone insane."

"Oh, that's okay. Everybody needs as evening with The Bitches once in awhile."

"The Bitches. That's a perfect name!" she said, laughing. Mulder smiled. "Look, Mulder....I need to thank you for something else. Ever since those three....I haven't really found a friend. A true friend. Until you. You're....the weird male version of Brenda."

"Thanks....I think."

"I meant it as a compliment, you know."

"Of course, Scully. Know how long I'll be here for you?"

"How long?"

"Remember my definition of eternity?"

"Yeah?" she replied. Mulder's hand squeezed hers.

"That long," he said. She smiled at him and leaned forward, giving him a hug. It was awkward to do in a car, with Mulder strapped to the seat, but it had the same meaning. Scully took his hand and squeezed it again.

"See you tomorrow," she said, getting out of the car. She turned to look at him. "Yeah. Tomorrow," he said, looking up at her. He smiled. So did she. She closed her eyes for a moment, then closed the door. She took a few steps backwards, and watched as his car drove off into the distance, his tail lights joining the others on the street.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just felt the need to write this story. Yes, its a moral story. (Sorry!) I think that the Mulder and Scully relationship is the best friendship in the world. I wish I had realized what I had before I lost it, and I hope everyone who read this learns to be grateful for the real friends you have. Not the ones who pretend to be your friends. Let me know what you thought! (I'm expecting mail from people going 'What the hell kind of story was that?!,' so if that's what you're sending, I'm ready for it.)
~Abby