TITLE:  Needing a Friend

AUTHOR:  Tracy Aiken

E-MAIL:  teanc@mindspring.com

CATEGORY:  S, Angst, MSR

RATING:  NC-17

SPOILERS:  Through Season 6 to be safe.

ARCHIVE:  Already sent to Gossamer, anywhere 

else, just let me know.

SUMMARY: Scully needs a friend and finds three 

unexpected ones.

DISCLAIMER:  These characters belong to Fox, and 

1013 Productions.  No money is being made on 

this.  Please don't sue.  No infringement 

intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A big thank you to my friend and 

beta reader and encourager, Dominiqua.  This 

story wouldn't have been possible without her 

encouragement - thank you - you're the best!





Scully had been driving around the District of 

Columbia for the better part of two hours with no 

destination in mind.  It wasn't that she wanted to 

just drive, but that she wanted something to do, and 

someone to talk to, really talk.  Of course there were 

medical journals to read and articles to work on, but 

she wanted to feel like a part of the human race 

again, not just a Special Agent trying to save the 

world, even if the world didn't know it needed saving.  



She found herself parking next to The Lone Gunman 

office/apartment and the next thing she knew, Langley 

was tapping on her window, smiling.



"Hey, Scully.  What brings you by?"



He noticed she looked a bit uncomfortable, and when 

she didn't answer him immediately, he added, "come on 

up, dinner should be here soon, you're welcome to join 

us."



"Are you sure, I don't want to impose."



He smiled and said, "come on, you know Frohicke would 

kill to have dinner with you."



Langley led the way into the apartment and left Scully 

waiting in the kitchen area.  "Make yourself at home, 

I'll round up Byers and Frohicke."



Scully found herself looking around their kitchen.  

She opened the refrigerator and saw a gallon of milk, 

a carton of orange juice, some eggs and various take 

out containers.  There was probably a hidden camera in 

there somewhere, too.  When she closed the 

refrigerator door, she saw all three of them standing 

there watching her, with smiles on their faces.



"You can investigate my refrigerator anytime, Scully," 

Frohicke said.



"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she started.



"Scully, I told you to make yourself at home, we don't 

care if you check out the refrigerator."



Byers, saw that she was embarrassed, by being caught 

going through their refrigerator.  "There's not a 

camera in there, promise," Byers said smiling.  "Can I 

get you something to drink?"



"If I'm imposing...."



"Scully, we don't see nearly enough of you," Frohicke 

said leering at her.



"Down, Frohicke," Langley said.  



"Punk ass," Frohicke said under his breath.



"Enough, both of you.  Scully, please, have a seat.  

I'll get you a drink.  Is wine all right?"



"Perfect, thank you."



Scully, feeling completely out of place; rarely came 

to The Lone Gunman office by herself.  Not that she 

minded seeing the boys, it was just that she really 

hadn't ever spent any amount of time alone with them.



Byers handed her, her wine and sat down next to her.  

"Is everything...I mean, Scully, don't take this the 

wrong way, but is everything okay?"



Scully looked down into her wineglass.  



"Not that you aren't welcome here, you are, it's just 

that you never...."



"Byers, I know you're not used to me being here, let 

alone, by myself."



"You are always welcome here," Frohicke added from 

behind them.



"Thank you," she said turning to see Langley and 

Frohicke staring at her.



"I really am okay.  I just needed some down time."



"That's cool," Langley, said, "you're more than 

welcome to hang here tonight.  We were just going to 

play some video games, maybe surf the net...we put the 

paper to bed earlier."



"I appreciate you letting me intrude."



"Scully, you're not intruding, trust me," Byers, said.



The doorbell rang and a video monitor came to life on 

the counter.  



"Dinner," Langley announced and quickly went to 

collect it from the delivery person.



He came back carrying two pizza boxes.  "Scully, we've 

got pepperoni with onions and green peppers and the 

other one is mushrooms and sausage."



"Both sound great.  I really appreciate your sharing 

your dinner with me, are you sure there's enough?"



Byers smiled.  "You're saving me from having to settle 

who gets the last piece, later."



She smiled.  "You've obviously never eaten pizza with 

me, before."



"You really are the perfect woman," Frohicke said from 

the kitchen.



"That depends on whom you ask," she said, really to 

herself.



  They were all silent at her comment.  Finally, 

Langley spoke, "does your being here have something to 

do with Mulder?"



She turned toward him and said, "honestly, I don't 

know.  All I do know is that I needed to get away from 

work and do something for me.  I can't actually 

remember the last time I did something for just the 

sheer pleasure of it; I just want to be able to have 

some fun."



"Mulder would love to have fun with you, trust me," 

Frohicke said.



She blushed and picked up her pizza.



"I didn't mean it that way, Scully."



Putting her pizza down she stared at her hands, in her 

lap.



"This is about me needing some time for me.  I need to 

focus on myself for a while.  I've got plenty of 

reading I should be doing, let alone research for 

articles but I didn't want to do any of that.  I 

wanted to hang out with friends, but while I was 

driving around, I realized that I don't have any 

friends left. "



"Scully, I know you don't need to be told that what 

you do everyday means, even if no one but us knows 

what's going on," Frohicke said.



"I know how important what we do is, but every once in 

a while, I want to just get away.  Last spring I got a 

call from Mulder asking me to come out to a ballpark, 

and do you know what we did?  He taught me how to hit 

a baseball."  She looked at all three of them.  They 

all had the same expression on their face.  It was one 

of shock and bewilderment.  She finally understood 

that these three only knew Scully the agent, not Dana 

the woman.  "But that was really the first time in 

seven years that he's asked me to do something not 

work related with him.  I like to have fun, at least I 

used to, and I miss that.  But that doesn't mean that 

I want to give up what we do.  We are very important 

players, all of us.   Sometimes though, I just want to 

talk to a friend or have someone to spend the evening 

with at home. "



"Scully, I know you don't normally hang out with us, 

but any time you want to just get away, please know 

that we'll be here for you, no matter what," Byers 

said.



She was touched beyond words.  She reached over and 

grasped Byers' hand.  "Thank you, you don't know how 

much that means."



"Would you like me to call Mulder," Frohicke asked?



Usually, every chance he had Frohicke tried to get her 

to himself.  She knew at that point what a good friend 

Frohicke really was.  



"I do need to talk to him, but getting him to talk, 

seriously, is another matter," she started.



"I'll call him," Langley said as he reached over to 

grab the telephone.  



Frohicke came to sit next to Scully.  "You need to 

talk to him, you know, let him know what's going on, 

inside."



"It's not as easy as that.  I wish we could," she said 

as she placed her plate on the table.



"Langley's calling him now and when he gets here you 

two can talk.  What you have is special, Scully.  

Don't waste precious time."



Langley walked over and sat on the arm of Byers' 

chair.  "Mulder is on his way."



While they were waiting, Langley took Scully into the 

living room where they played with the Gunman's new 

Sega Dreamcast.  Frohicke and Byers followed them in 

and they were playing Tetris when the monitor alerted 

them to Mulder's presence.