Field of Study
by Maureen B. Ocks
maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:  Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and all other familiar X 
Files characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and 
FOX.  No copyright infringement intended.

Archive -- Sure, just tell me and keep my name with it. Spoilers:   
"all things" I guess.  
 
Keywords: Not since the new Millennium.

The following is a tribute to the miracles list mom Shari
performs every time I send her something to beta read.  She is
amazing.

Author's notes at the end.
 
x=x=x
 
The Field of Study
by Maureen B. Ocks
 
Every Saturday was the same.  Mulder would rise from his bed
feeling for all the world like Lazarus, though he didn't know for
certain who or what had rolled the stone from his sleep.  
 
The only good Saturday mornings he had since Oxford were
the few months he was married.  Susan liked brunch.  She put
in 60 hours a week at Hoffman -Miller by Friday night, so
Saturdays were hers.  Saturday morning was theirs.  Brunch at
Nino's, hitting the Farmer's Market - even if the fresh food and
vegetables sat and rotted in the crisper all week while they both
worked.  She'd get a manicure, he'd listen to the English
imports at Tower waiting for her to dry.  It was as close to
normal as he ever felt.
 
So of course it didn't last.  He still took Susan out to brunch a
week before her birthday every year - the new Mr. Susan
wouldn't have it any other way.   She said they had the best
divorce of any of her friends.  He occasionally thought of that
as a source of pride.
 
If Susan was putting in 60 hours a week in 1989, he was getting
tired of 80 hours a week ten years later.  Tired of work, tired of
the bureaucracy, tired of all of it.  Well, all of it but one thing. 
 
"Mulder?"  Scully walked into his bedroom wearing his dress
shirt he remember flinging across the room while she tossed
her bra onto his dresser.  "You have twelve packets of duck
sauce, a carton of eggs dated October 19, 1998, two cans of
Coors Light and a quart orange juice that was good enough to
walk itself to the garbage pail when I opened the refrigerator
door."
 
"Work up an appetite last night Scully?"
 
"After strenuous exercise, the human body  is still burning
calories.  The post-exercise oxygen consumption..."
 
"Is that what those noises were last night?  Post-exercise
oxygen consumption?"
 
"The body needs fuel Mulder and since I didn't have dinner
before your call last night."
 
"You like brunch, Scully?"
 
He watched her think before she answered.  "No.  Breakfast or
lunch."
 
"That's what I like about you.  Black and white."
 
"Like?"  She smiled at him.  "You like me?"
 
"I think you had scientific proof of that during three different
controlled experiments last night."
 
"Is that what the kids are calling it today?  Experiments?"
 
"The Royal Canadian Pancake House has pizza pie sized
pancakes if you need to carbo-load after last night
experimentation and possibly store more for further scientific
study later today."
 
"Get out of bed and feed me."
 
"Yes, Dr. Scully."  Mulder padded naked to the bathroom. 
"You want to join me in the shower and contaminate the field
of study?"
 
"Sweet-talker."  
 

x-x-x
 
OK, I actually wrote this during innings when the Yankees
weren't batting during a 25 minute time period.  I'm pretty sure
it was 10 minutes combined but hey, it's the World Series, the
Yankees are playing and I think Mulder would approve.

Bone provided:

Every Saturday was the same.  Mulder would rise from his bed
feeling for all the world like Lazarus, though he didn't know for
certain who or what had rolled the stone from his sleep.  

The challenge - write for 10 minutes after that, no editing, no betaing.


Feedback -- better than brunch!:  Maureen_B_Ocks@yahoo.com