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The Photograph
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October 13, 1999
Alexandria, Virginia
4:15AM

	She sat alone at the tiny all night diner examining her left hand. Her 
fingernails were short and stubby from a nervous habit of biting them. 
Her left wrist was slightly larger than her right. She had broken it 
twice--once when she was thirteen, and again when she was seventeen. 
Her fingers were long--piano fingers, people told her. Slowly her gaze 
came to rest on her ring finger. There used to be a diamond engagement 
ring on it. There should be a wedding band resting there now. But that 
was years ago. 
	The waitress, a tall blonde, walked over to the table where she 
sat. "Can I get you anything?"
	Kim fondled the menu unconsciously. She looked up at the waitress 
and very carefully said, "I'll just have some more coffee."
	"Coming right up," the waitress said as she jotted down the order 
and took the menu from Kim. The blonde waitress walked away from her 
and over to a red head sitting a few tables away. Kim watched as the 
waitress jotted down the other order and headed towards the kitchen. 
Kim's attention then shifted to the red head. She was petite, with 
features that made her intimidating. She was the complete opposite of 
Kim. Kim was petite, yes, but she wasn't intimidating, she was almost 
a push over.
	Suddenly the red head looked up from her paperwork and looked 
right at Kim. The look seemed to say, "What are you looking at?" Kim 
quickly grabbed the cardboard advertisement and became completely 
engrossed in it.

Across the room, Dana Scully went back to pondering her files. She 
couldn't believe she was still in Alexandria. Her partner had told her 
at two that morning, that they wouldn't be able to get anything else 
done and had gone to bed. Somehow, she found herself at this little 
diner going over what they had accomplished. She didn't feel like 
going home; it was a bit of a drive. She had noticed the little 
brunette woman when she came in at three-thirty. She looked lonely, so 
Dana gathered her things and headed over to her table.
	"Can I join you?" Dana asked.
	Kim looked up at her. "Sure, I guess."
	As Dana sat down, she said, "I noticed you watching me across the 
room. You looked lonely. Oh, by the way, I’m Dana."
	Kim smiled. "I’m Kim. Sorry about that. So, what are you doing in 
a place like this at this time of night?"
	"Oh, I just came from my partner’s place. We’ve been working on 
this case all day and finally decided to call it quits around two. 
What about you?"
	"Just couldn’t sleep. I tried calling my ex-husband, but I got 
the machine, so I hung up."
	"Why’d you and your husband get divorced, if you don’t mind me 
asking?"
	"Oh, it was nothing really. I should have been able to see it 
through, but when he really focused his attention on something, it was 
hard to get him to do anything else. He worked his way up through the 
ranks at his job and found a new thing that caught his interest. He 
then started spending more time at the office and less time with me, 
so we decided to go our separate ways." Kim stopped to take a sip of 
coffee. "I can't believe we lasted as long as we did."
	"How long were you married?"
	"Eight years. Fortunately we don't have any kids. Oh, don't get 
me wrong. We wanted to have children. I guess it just wasn’t in our 
future. Oh, and he was so romantic. Flowers, poetry, he’d even leave 
me little notes just to say he loved me."
	Dana sighed. Oh how she wished her partner would be that way with 
her. They had been partners and friends for over six years now. They 
did have a good working relationship, but anything outside of work was 
never discussed. 
	Kim absentmindedly reached into her jeans pocket. She pulled out 
a small gold band and spun it around in her fingers. Dana noticed what 
Kim had done, and very slowly asked, "Is that your wedding ring?"
	Kim looked up at her. "Yea. It should be at home in a box, but 
for some reason I carry it with me. It’s stupid, I know."
	"No, it’s not. It’s something to remember him by. At least you 
and he are on speaking terms."
	"I wouldn’t exactly call it speaking terms. We don’t talk much 
anymore. I usually only call him when I can’t sleep or I have a major 
problem. I never call him at work, even though I have his number. He’s 
more of a crutch than anything else. It’s so hard to break away from 
the person you love."
	"So you still love him?"
	"With all my heart. I know he doesn’t feel the same. He’s married 
to his work now. I don’t even know if he’s ever home. I always seem to 
get the answering machine when I call the apartment. Funny thing is, 
he’s never changed the number. When I moved out, I left just about 
everything. Nothing was mine anyway. I had just graduated college and 
had nothing to my name when we got married. I lived in the dorms all 
four years. He had already been out of school and working for two 
years. We got married and got a little one-bedroom apartment here in 
town. It was small, but I didn’t care. We were in love.
	"When I left him, I suddenly found myself with nothing. No place 
to live, nothing but the clothes on my back and a couple of bags of 
other miscellaneous items. I was fortunate enough that my mother lived 
close and said I could live with her until I got back on my feet, but 
that took two years. My college degree hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I 
now work as a radio disc jockey on the weekends and work on my book 
during the week.
	"My writing was better when I was married. My publisher tells me 
this. But I’ve managed to capture the fear of living alone now. I 
think they like it."
	Dana Scully picked up her coffee and looked at Kim through the 
steam. "So you’re a dee-jay?"
	"Yea, two different stations, but it pays the bills. I manage to 
eat and the royalties from my first novel cover the rent. But enough 
about me, what about you?"
	Dana tensed. Her life was nothing compared to Kim’s, it would 
hardly take up a paragraph in a book. "Oh, my life is nothing 
spectacular. I work for the FBI. My partner is very...dedicated, is the 
word I use. I don’t really have much of a personal life outside of 
work."
	Kim looked at her, took a sip of coffee, and said, "Not 
everyone’s life can be as interesting as mine, but I think you just 
helped my writer’s block."

Kim and Dana talked for a while longer, and around five in the 
morning, Kim got up to leave. "Well, it’s been nice talking with you,"
Kim said as she went to the register to pay the bill. As she was 
putting her wallet back in her purse, a photograph fell out onto the 
floor. Kim didn’t notice, but Dana did. She hurried over and picked up 
the photo. She looked up, but Kim had already walked out the door. 
Dana followed, but once she was on the street, she had no idea which 
way Kim had gone. The town was dark and the street was empty.
	Dana took the photo and went back inside. It had landed face 
down. On the back, it said "home." She sat down in the booth and ran 
her fingers over the edge of the photo. Was it right to look at 
someone’s old photograph? Dana slowly turned the photograph over. She 
stared at the picture for a moment. The photo was of a young couple 
unlocking the door to their new home. The woman was about five feet 
tall, had brunette hair and green eyes. She was obviously the person 
Dana had just met in the diner. The man was about a foot taller than 
Kim, had brown hair and green eyes. The apartment they were unlocking 
was number forty-two. As Dana looked at the photograph, she realized 
that Kim’s ex-husband was her partner, Fox Mulder. Dana put the 
photograph in the file she had brought with her and vowed to discuss 
this with her partner. She then got up, paid her bill and walked out 
of the diner, all the while thinking about the photograph.