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The J. Edgar Hoover Building seemed abandoned. It was 11:30, and there wasn't a light on in any office. The fluorescent lights were the only guide through the mazes of cubicals, desks, and long, narrow hallways. White walls after white walls, never-ending passageways with straight-aways and turns. 24 floors of it. Mulder pushed the "UP" button on the elevator, then turned to his partner and smiled. She glared at him, not daring to return the gesture. She was tired. She just wanted to go home.

"What, you don't like late, late nights at the office filling out paper work?" he asked with another wry smile.

"Not especially. Not when I could be at home, under nice, warm blankets in my bed, sleeping," she said. She was glad she could go now, glad to get out of that god-forsaken basement. He shrugged.

"I don't know....I guess I'm kind of used to it. I've spent a lot of time here at night."

The elevator's bell rang and they stepped inside. Mulder pushed a button.

"Mulder!" Scully whined. He looked at her, confused.

"What??"

"You just pushed the button for the 24th floor! We only need to get to the first!"

"Sorry. I guess I'm more tired than I thought. No big deal, Scully. We'll just push the one for the right floor-"

"We're past the first floor, Mulder."

"Fine then we'll stop it here," he said. He pushed a button. The elevator didn't stop. He pushed a few more. The elevator made a noise and stopped abruptly. Scully stumbled backwards, then toppled over. Her head hit the side of the elevator hard. She whimpered. The lights went out in the car.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I think we're stuck."

"No. No way, I'm not spending all night in here," she said. She got up, then got out her keys and turned on the flashlight on her key chain. She went to the emergency phone and picked it up. No dial tone. She pushed the some buttons. Nothing happened. "Crap."

Mulder punched the "Open" button repeatedly. Nothing happened.

"Think it might have been a power surge?" he asked.

"I don't know, Mulder. It could have been a lot of things. All I know is that we're going to be in here for awhile," she said with a sigh.

Mulder reached in his pocket and pulled out his mini-flashlight. He shone the beam on her. She made an un-identifiable face at him, and slowly sunk to the floor.

"Well......got any cards?" he asked. She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips. Mulder moved and sat next to her. "Any suggestions?"

"Nope. I think we should just sleep through this whole ordeal."

"What? And ruin a perfect evening? No, Scully, this is a unique experience! We should enjoy it!"

"Mulder, there's a significant difference between something being a unique experience and something being a pain in the ass," she said, looking over at him as he sat down next to her. He smiled. They sat there, staring at the metal wall in front of them, looking at their dark, distorted reflections.

"When I was a kid, I used to call elevators 'alligators,'" Mulder suddenly said. She looked at him and laughed.

"What?" he said, delighted to see her giggles.

"I just....we're sitting here at work, stuck together in the dark, in an elevator. I'm sitting here wondering when someone will find us, wondering if we'll even BE found, and suddenly you say, 'When I was a kid, I used to call elevators alligators.' That's just very amusing to me, that you would say that out of the blue." She laughed a little, then flinched, bringing her hand to her head.

"What's wrong?'

"I whacked my head on the wall when the elevator stopped."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"You're always 'fine,' Scully. Let me see," he said, moving closer. She didn't argue, she was too tired.

"Where did you hit it?" he asked. She put her hand on the side of her head, on the side she parted her hair on. He put his palm on the side of her head, then ran his fingers through her hair, his fingertips lightly touching her scalp. She closed her eyes at the feel of his touch, it felt soothing to her. Something came over Mulder, he wasn't sure what it was. He had often wondered what it would be like to touch Scully in this way. He never thought he'd try it. He cherished his partnership with Scully, and he cherished their loving friendship more. But something inside him told him it was all right to go on. His other hand came up to the other side of her head, threading through her hair. His fingertips traced slow, rhythmic circles on her skull, then pulled through her soft mane of hair. They sat there silently, feeling one another, even if Scully wasn't the one reaching out for him. Mulder realized that he probably shouldn't do this much longer, he didn't know if he'd be able to keep himself from going further.

"You're getting a bump," he said softly.

"Feels like there's a baseball embedded in my skin," she replied as Mulder removed his hand.

"If I had ice, I'd give you some, but for now all I can say is: you'll live," he said. She looked around and sighed, squirming. "What's wrong now?"

"I'm tired, that's all. Now I don't think I'll be able to sleep. I don't like this situation at all."

"Can I help with anything?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Not unless you can get us out of here. Look....Mulder....I'm going to be honest, here. I don't think I'm going to be able to relax at all till we're out of here. Ever since Phaster....I can't be in small dark areas. I just can't. It freaks me out, even now," she said, feeling her throat tighten. She didn't like confessing that. She didn't want to, but he was going to have to find out sooner or later. She felt Mulder's hand on hers, and she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, Scully."

"For what?"

"I don't know, but I'm feeling the need to apologize. I guess I still feel guilty about not convincing you to stay in DC during that case. You wouldn't have gone through all that crap."

"Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't have known, Mulder. No matter what you would have said to me, I was the one who wanted to come back. It was my choice. Besides, I needed it. I needed it, because I had to be re-assured you be there to catch me if I fell. And you were. You were there to comfort me when I broke down, otherwise I would have had to keep it inside. Or Phaster would have killed me. Whatever came first."

Mulder's arm came around her and she leaned against him.

"I'll always be there to catch you, Scully. I try to be," he said.

"You know, even now....I see his face sometimes. I see his face, and other people's faces. Duane Barry. Doctors. People that if I met now would probably just be deja-vu to me. Vague memories. Faces I know so well that they have no face at all. It gets frustrating. But I move on. I have to." She felt Mulder squeeze her shoulder.

"I'm glad you did. I'm glad you carried on. I was afraid I might lose my partner. But I was more afraid I'd lose my best friend," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said. "I'm going to make that promise to you now."

He kissed her temple, and put his other arm around her, pulling her in a soft embrace.

"Me, too."

Suddenly the lights went on in the elevator. It jumped and started to move. It was heading to the first floor. They looked at each other.

"Good timing, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, all this opening-up wore me out," he said. They reluctantly pulled away, turned off their flashlights, and got to their feet. The bell rang and they stepped out. They stood there silently. Scully looked down at the floor, Mulder stuffed his hands in his pockets. She looked up, and took his hand from one of his pockets. She gently squeezed it.

"'Night."

"Good-night, Scully."

They released their clasped hands, turned in opposite directions of the hallway, and walked away from one another.