A Broken Fox

5) Boredom Calls

"Scully."
"It's me, Mulder."
"Mulder, I've only been gone for five hours."
"But you said to call you if I need anything, Scully," Mulder says innocently. He smirks as he hears Scully sigh on the other end of the line.
"What do you want, Fox?" she sighs.
"First off, I want you to not call me Fox," Mulder says, kicking his feet up on his coffee table. "Second of all, I want to know how your day has been."
"Well, thank you for asking, Fox," Scully answers. He sighs, but says nothing. "My day was quite fine. Skinner gave me the day off to get you to your apartment, so now I'm just enjoying myself."
"That's great," Mulder replies. "Hey, did you see that thing on the new where-"
"No cases, Mulder," Scully remind him. "You won't be working on any for a while, either."
"Right. Of course," Mulder says. "Well, gotta go, Scully."
He hangs up before she can reply and tosses his phone onto his desk. He leans back and folds his arms behind his head, staring at the opposite wall. He slept for three hours, watched TV for two, then he called Scully. It's 10 o'clock, but he's not tired. He couldn't sleep if he wanted to. There's nothing good on TV, he'd probably start working on a case that'd land him in Ohio or Louisiana if he started watching tapes, and his creative writing ability is...less than desirable. Maybe he could write out his and Scully's adventures someday; it'd make for a great TV series.
Actually, no, it wouldn't. People don't believe what he says now, so why would they make his crazy life into a TV series? No one would want to watch that. They'd find him even more of a maniac.
Why is he even considering this?
He stands up and reaches across his desk, grabbing his phone. He sits back down and dials Scully's number, but stops before hitting the call button.
It's only been about 15 minutes since he called her.
Would he seem too bored? Too desperate? She'd probably think that she needs to come over to stave off his boredom. He needs to have a reason to call her.
He looks around his apartment. He could break his window. Or mess with an outlet and start an electrical fire. Or-
Or he could call and say that she left her coat.
Hitting the call button, he puts the phone to his ear and waits. Three rings later, she answers.
"This better be good, Mulder," Scully says almost irritably.
"Hey, Scully," Mulder says casually. "So, uh, did you know that you left your coat here? Because you did. And I didn't know if you knew that." You sound like an idiot.
"Yeah, I realized that when I got home, but I didn't want to go back and disturb you," she says. "I was going to come back later and get it."
She didn't notice.
"If it's in the way or anything, I can come over and-"
"No, no, it's fine," Mulder says. "I just wanted to make sure you knew."
Silence. Did he say something wrong?
"Hey, Scully? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," she sighs.
"What are you wearing?"
He smiles as he hears her laugh on the other end.
"Well, Mulder, if you must know, you called me in the middle of a bath," she replies.
"O-ho, really?" he laughs. "Can I join?"
"I don't think so," Scully answers, the smile evident in her voice. "Skinner's explicit orders are that you stay home."
"Aw, come on, Scully," Mulder whines. "Dad's just boring. We don't ever listen to him, anyway."
On the other end of the line, Scully laughs, which makes Mulder smile even wider.
"Well, Mulder," Scully says, the laugh still in her voice, "I think you might want to take your own bath. After all, you said it yourself: A whole week in the same clothes. I don't want your dirty body ruining my nice bath."
"Fine, fine," Mulder says. "If you insist."
"Goodbye, Mulder," Scully says.
"Talk to you later, Scully," Mulder replies.
Click.
Mulder sets the phone down by his side, still smiling. He needed that. It felt good to actually laugh after that long week. It felt even better to laugh with Scully.
He lies down on his couch, moving his phone so that it sits in front of his stomach. Closing his eyes, he slowly drifts off to sleep, thinking of Scully's laugh and smile.
But those thoughts alone weren't going to bring him pleasant dreams.