Knocking on Heaven's Door

Scully hung up the phone one more time, exasperated that she still couldn't reach Mulder. But that's the way he ran—hot and cold, sucking her in one minute and leaving her waiting by the phone the next. She sat in her hotel room, alone, writing reports and wishing she could have a warm body next to her, at least once in a while.

Which is why it was like a breath of fresh air meeting Ed in the tattoo shop the next day. She felt a buzz of excitement surge through her veins as he offered her a card with his phone number on it. When she finally talked to Mulder that night, he was a total prick to her, and she was glad to hear a twinge of jealousy in his voice when he asked if she had a date. She was sick of his bullshit. They shared some tender moments together, to be sure, but he could be a bossy asshole at times, and it always hurt worse to be wounded by the ones you love.

She felt rejuvenated after her date. Tipsy and stinging from her new tattoo, she entered Ed's house with careless abandon. The roughness of his grip on her arm should have scared her away, but instead, her body was fully alive in a way she could not remember ever feeling. Her head was telling her to run, but she could not shut off the part of her whispering to 'Go for it…Mulder will be sorry…'

This was the second time he had been rough with her—he had grabbed her arm in the bar, and for some reason, she liked the steel grip on her skin. For once, she felt dirty…reckless. But was this what she really wanted—to be treated like an object? Why not? Hadn't Mulder treated her like his private vessel by ordering her around? At least there was some mutual gratification in this objectification—there was a spark between she and Ed, and at least she knew she could get somewhere with him. And although he was more physically powerful than she was (in a way that was exciting—it was a challenge), she knew she was more powerful than him in other ways. She had the better job. She was smarter. It was nice to feel like equals—or better.

And so with the abandon of a thirteen-year-old feeling her hormones for the first time, Scully left her rational concerns at the door of Ed's house, and entered his bed.