Title: Happiness - Share and Share Alike Author: shawntaw Category: MSR, Au Rating: PG (one small cuss word) Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I am making no profit. No harm, no foul. It's after Christmas. To sue me would be a pointless exercise. But if you insist, I suppose you can have that fuzzy stuff at the bottom of my pockets... I don't own NyQuil either, except for that bottle in my medicine cabinet. Summary: Share the love....(sniffle)... Feedback makes me very happy at shawntaw@hotmail.com :) TO DANI WHO HAS MADE A WEBSITE OF MY STORIES: www.geocities.com/corran_14776/shawntaw.html Thank you.:) NOTE: THANK YOU FOR THE LOVELY FEEDBACK. I WAS AFRAID THIS IDEA WAS TOO ORDINARY. IT WAS ALL MY GERM-INFESTED BRAIN COULD COME UP WITH. BUT, ACTUALLY, IT HAS TURNED OUT BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. THANK GOD... ********************************************************************** **** Scully sat in the chair beside Mulder's couch, head thrown back against its well-worn softness, mouth slightly open in slumber. From her limp fingers dangled a dusting rag and beside her feet lay a spray bottle of cleaner. Mulder sat up from his horizontal position on the couch and peered into the darkness of his apartment. Obviously he'd been asleep for awhile. Moonlight filtered through his blinds and cast faint stripes of light across the floor. He couldn't see the results for the dark, but he could smell the cleanliness of his apartment. Mulder wondered what Scully had been up to while he lay unconcious on his couch. The fish tank burbled, but he noticed she had turned their small light off as well. "Hey Mulder," came her scratchy voice suddenly, "I just sat down for a minute to rest." "Why are all the lights off?" His voice didn't sound so good either. But he noticed that he had no urge to cough...yet. Scully cleared her throat. "I was going to grab a quick nap. I turned off the lights. I think the cleaner I'm using was starting to give me a headache." She stretched. "I feel achy and tired. All that scrubbing must've worn me out." Scully rotated her neck. Mulder coughed and stood up. "You could've lay down in my bed, Scully." He started for the bathroom. "I was just resting for a minute; I didn't mean to sleep so long," she yelled after him, "Mulder, how're you feeling?" She heard a muffled response. "What?" Scully pushed herself up off the chair and walked into his bedroom. He stood just inside his bathroom, nose buried in a wad of toilet paper. He finished blowing his nose, "I said, I feel a little better. Not cured, but better." Scully sat wearily on the edge of Mulder's rumpled bed. "Better enough for tomorrow night's get-together?" "I'm game if you are." Mulder frowned as Scully pulled her shirt away from her skin and fanned herself with her hand. "Why is it so hot in here? Is your heater malfunctioning or something?" He crossed the room and pressed her temple with the inside of his wrist. "Mulder, what are you doing? How can you check me for fever when you yourself have a fever?" Scully tried to push his hand away. "Scully, I don't have a fever right now; I can tell. The medicine is still working," He rubbed his wrist over her other temple, "But I hate to tell you - you do." "I was afraid of that," Scully sighed, letting herself fall back to lay across his bed. ********************************************************************** *** ~~~~ Next Morning ~~~~ Kimberly hung up the phone shaking her head and smiling amusedly. She carried Skinner's coffee and his morning stack of files to his desk. "Good morning, sir. Here's your coffee and these came in the inter- departmental mail this morning for you," she laid the folders in his "IN" box. "Oh, and Agents Mulder and Scully have requested another day off, if nothing pressing requires their attention," she paused at Skinner's raised eyebrow, "Scully caught it now too," she said quietly. "Ah," was all that Skinner said, his hand brushing hers accidentally as he took his coffee from her. Their hands fumbled and the coffee sloshed on the corner of his desk. "Oh!" Kimberly exclaimed, running from the office for paper towels. Skinner was standing and shaking droplets from a couple of documents when she returned. "Sorry, sir," she said, dabbing the mess up with the towels. "Its not your fault, Kimberly," Skinner said grabbing a couple of the towels and helping her, "Besides, nothing important was ruined." The two cleaned up the mess, not realizing it was an omen for the day to come. ********************************************************************** ***** Kimberly started sneezing around lunchtime. "Ah...Ah....Ahh...," Skinner poked his head out of his office when he heard her sneeze for what seemed like the fiftieth time. "Kimberly?" "...chiiiioooahgaahghhh!!" she tried to restrain her sneeze inside of a tissue held to her face. "Yes sir?" she said finally, eyes watering. "Kim, I hate to tell you this, but I think you've caught Agent Mulder's bug." She nodded as she wiped her nose, "I've been coming to the same conclusion." He considered for a moment. "Why don't you call for a temp and go ahead and take the rest of today and tomorrow off?" She seemed relieved, "Oh, good. To be honest, I'm not feeling all that well, sir." He smiled slightly at her, "I can tell. Now, make the arrangements and go on home and take care of yourself." Kimberly gave her boss a huge smile, "Thank you, sir," ....and sneezed mightily. ********************************************************************** **** Skinner shut off his office lights and locked up for the day. He looked at his watch. 6pm. Good. He had just enough time to go home and get ready for his date with Maggie. He unconsciously sniffled as he headed for the elevators. ********************************************************************** *** At Mulder's apartment, twin snoring could be heard coming from Mulder's bedroom. Two rumpled figures lay spooned under the layers of covers. Scully suddenly kicked her covers off, mumbled about being hot and tossed in her sleep. Mulder shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around him, pulling in his long feet from where they had been uncovered by Scully's movement. They both had changed into nightclothes - Scully a t-shirt and Mulder a t-shirt, pajama bottoms and socks. Mulder suddenly sat up. "I'm freezing! Did you open a window?" He leaned over, clicked on his bedside lamp and saw that, indeed, his bedroom window was cracked open. "Mulder, it is like an oven in here! I was just letting in a little air," Scully said, turning onto her back and splaying out her arms and legs in an effort to get cool. He jumped out of bed, ran over to the window and slammed it, sprinted back to the bed and curled up under the covers. A shiver ran up and down his spine as he tried to warm back up under the blanket. "Scully, have you taken your NyQuil?" "Did you?" she challenged. They lay in fevered silence. "Since you aren't the one freezing to death, you go get it and we'll both take it," Mulder suggested in a shaky voice. "Fair enough," Scully said, pushing her hair off her sweaty brow. She padded into the bathroom and came back with the vile medication. "Salud," she said sardonically as she quickly took her dose. "Bleah," Scully gagged and lay down on the bed. "Here's mud in your eye," Mulder said without humor, unable to think of anything original. "Damn," he shivered as the taste coated his tongue. He clicked off the lamp as the two of them spooned together again. Silence reigned. Slowly the comforting netherworld of sleep took them both. ********************************************************************** ***** Next...The sharing continues and I don't have a title yet..stay tuned... I'm better!:) But I seem to have an endless supply of MUCOUS! (sorry....I guess that falls under "too much information" *L*)