Disclaimer:  Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, the X-Files, and associated
characters are property of David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Carter,
Ten-Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting Corporation.  They are used
without permission and no copyright infringement is meant.

Any elements not recognized as being taken from the show copyright
Christina Shuy. 

Comments and other things sent to cshuy@netcom.com are much appreciated. 

Rating: Umm... PG for language, UST
Spoilers: "Fire"
Summary: Mulder calls an old friend to talk about an old flame.

Conversations Between Old Friends: "Fire"
by Christina Shuy
cshuy@netcom.com

     The ringing of the phone was abnormally loud.  Then again, it was the
middle of the night. 

     "...'lo?  Victoria Jensen speaking." The woman's voice was slightly
muffled by the fact her head was still buried in her pillow. "And this had
better be important..." 

     "Hey, VC, it's me." The cheerfulness of his voice was a little too
much to bear. 

     She peered at the clock beside the bed.  If the caller had been
local, she would have hunted him down and killed him.  As it was, the time
difference between their two locations was just enough so that she could
forgive him... maybe. 

     "Mulder... what is the meaning of this?  I just managed to get to
sleep.  Do you know what time it is over here?" 

     "Yeah, 3am.  Look, I'm sorry... I just got back from Boston and I
kinda needed to talk." 

     "Caught Cecil L'Ively, did you?" Victoria yawned. "Damned fire bug. 
About time, too." 

     "Yeah... though I wish Phoebe hadn't been here.  She was really the
last thing I needed to deal with right now." 

     "Phoebe is, at best, a menace, as seen by the way she let you know
she was in town again.  I thought her idea of a warning message' was
tasteless.  At worst, she will pull you in and under again.  You almost
fell for it again, didn't you.  In fact, you *did* fall for it again,
didn't you." 

     "..."

     Victoria sighed. "Mulder... How does Scully fit into this?"

     "She... well... she doesn't."

     "I see."

     "And what's that supposed to mean?"

     "Nothing."

     "Victoria, whenever you say I see' in that tone, I know you mean
something.  In fact, I'm sometimes afraid to know what you mean." 

     Victoria yawned again.  "Mulder, it's best if I don't point this out
to you right now.  Not only that, I'm liable to say something I'll regret
in about... three hours, which is when I have to get up anyway and go to
work.  Hell, I'm likely to say something I'm going to regret immediately.  
Was there a point to your calling me at this ungodly hour?"

     "You should have seen this coming."

     "Mulder, the only thing I have seen coming lately is the fact that a
local serial killer has struck again, I have seen the pattern in which he
operates, and I have just barely the peace of mind to continue trying to
piece the clues he has left together so that I can catch him.  It's rather
like what happened to you when you were in Violent Crimes.  In fact,
repeated nightmares about the suspect in question are the reason I only
got to sleep less than an hour ago." 

     "Oh..." 

     "Mulder, there was a reason you called me... Something about this
case bothered you... and I'm not talking about the fact that L'Ively is
pyrokinetic and you are terrified of fire." 

     "Yeah... well... this case seemed more like something you'd get sent
for, not Phoebe.  I'd say this was right up your alley." 

     "My superiors overruled me.  I was the original person to investigate
this case, so when I heard that the target was going on a trip across the
pond, I thought I'd be the one to go and let you know, but apparently
Phoebe's going bed-hopping again.  I was told that I was to stay here and
help with the current investigation.  They were sending Phoebe. 

     "I went to three superiors, and all of them said the same thing. 
She's going and you aren't.' They said it had something to do with the
fact that I'd been taking too much time for my other pursuits lately. 
Considering the amount of time I have had to spend on Scotland Yard cases,
especially this serial killer, what they said was far from the truth.  In
fact, it smacked of flagarant Phoebe Green manipulation." 

     "Well..." 

     "She didn't help you out any either... told you some vague story
about how the authorities here didn't have a clue of how the fires
started. *I* had a clue. I knew... I think I had managed to catch him in
action one night, and I was close to solving the case when Sir Malcolm
Marsden decided he was going to go hide in Boston.  In fact, I think his
hiding out there was her idea... all the more opportunity for her to mess
with your mind.  Judging by the way your thoughts are going, and what
nearly happened during the case, I'd say she got what she wanted." 

     "And I thought I told you not to do that." 

     "Mulder.... the main reason you and I still talk on the phone instead
of through email or regular mail is so that you can vent and finally get
things off your chest... You talk to your partner often enough but it is
still not the same..." 

     "And how do you know?"  His tone of voice suddenly became very
defensive. 

     "Mulder... you used to do the exact same thing while we were at
Oxford, even before Phoebe got her claws into you...  After she did...
well... that's not important." 

     "It isn't?" 

     "No, Mulder, it isn't, especially since talking about it would tend
to exacerbate things right now, what with you just having gotten out of
her influence." 

     "And what's that supposed to mean?" 

     "Nothing, Mulder.  I just know how you are after Phoebe's been
around, and after you've been around her." 

     "If you say so." 

     She sighed.  "Mulder, are you feeling any better?" 

     "Yeah... actually..." 

     "Good.  Can I go back to sleep now?  Unlike you, I have a long day
ahead of me tracking down the serial killer who seems to prey on young men
and women..." 

     "Any commonalities?" 

     "College students.  All from Oxford, or recent graduates from..." 

     "Anything else?" 

     "Mulder, are you sure you're up for this?" 

     "Yeah, just so long as I don't do it all the time.  Go on.  I'm glad
to help." 

     "You might be, but I need my sleep." 

     "Oh... okay.  Talk to you later, then." 

     She dropped the phone back on the hook and buried her face in a
pillow.  It was going to be a long night. 

-The End-


"The Truth is Out There.  Trust No One."- from "The X-Files"
"I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat is to crawl
naked into a sleeping bag with someone else who's already naked."-Mulder
"Maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you'll get lucky." Scully(tXF-"Detour")
Pursuing a BS degree(Electrical Engineering)-Fall Quarter Hiatus (no money)
"In the moment that you think you can't, you'll discover that you can." - 
Celine Dion - "Power of the Dream" "Let's get Dangerous!" - Darkwing Duck.
Looking for work and a place to live... somewhere in the SanFran Bay Area.