TITLE: His Sanity Kept

AUTHOR: erika

E-MAIL ADDRESS: GreyIceXF@aol.com

DISCLAIMER: All right I'm going to finally tell someone my secret. I made up the X Files and sold them to Chris Carter for forty dollars because I didn't think they would work. I wrote them in my garage on my '92 model computer. They're really mine... really... and if you believe that gimmie a call, I've got a mansion in England on two hundred acres that I'd be willing to sell you for ninety-five dollars:)

REAL DISCLAIMER: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and The X Files aren't mine. They belong to Chris Carter and the FOX corporation. I'm simply borrowing them. I don't have either of their written or oral permission to do so. Just a side note guys, you won't get anything by trying to sue me, I have no money.
,br> DISTRIBUTION: Uummm... please keep my name and everything on it, drop me a line and tell me where, I'll probably say yes. I'd be very flattered;)

SPOILER WARNING: If you know enough about X-Files to be reading fics, then you should be just fine.

RATING: It couldn't be anything over a PG, but it's more than likely a G. There is no sex, violence, heck dude there isn't even a kiss. It's completely harmless.

CONTENT WARNING: In all honesty I have no idea if there was drivers education when Mulder and Scully were teenagers, but if there wasn't and you know there wasn't then just think of this as an alternate universe story:)

CLASSIFICATION: MS friendship, I guess it could be taken as potential MSR but it isn't ment that way. This one would be agreeable to the shippers, the no-romos, and the fence-sitters :).

SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully, in the office, chatting, waiting for lab results.

AUTHOR NOTE: Okay fic readers. I've been reading xf fics for about three years, give or take a little, so I figured I'd give writing them a try. I'm writing using proper grammar and capitalization ((or at least trying to)) because in my opinion story text is easier to read that way. However I do prefer to write the other way. Please take pity if my grammar and punctuation sucks, I don't use it often on a computer. This is also my first fic, I started another but I lost the disk I saved it on. If I ever find it I'll finish it and post it but this is my first finished fic. Anyone who is an accomplished fic writer please send feedback and tell me what I can change or what I can do to make things better. If you're a reader that's great too, send me feedback and tell me what you thought:). Either would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS: I'd like to say thank you very much to my good friend Meredith (I wont say you're last name online in case you have a stalker, lol). Thank you for reading this fic and editing, then reading it again and editing that too. It was very cool of you and I hope that someday I'll get to be the editor of one of your fics.

His Sanity Kept

Mulder and Scully had been working on a particularly gruesome case the past few weeks. It was almost over, they had the suspect backed into a corner all they needed was the results of the fibers they'd lifted and he was as good as convicted. There was no way he could get off, there were too many witnesses and too much evidence, it was safe to say he wasn't going anywhere for a long time.

Scully knew Mulder had taken this case very hard. He always took domestic violence cases to heart. She wasn't sure of the exact reason why, however she did had a pretty good idea. But Scully didn't say anything, she knew that when he needed her help he would ask. For now she thought it best to just let him be and let him have his space.

"Scully, do you remember ever taking driver's ed.?" Mulder asked out of the blue one Monday morning in the office.

She raised a brow. "In High School, you mean?

"Yeah," he answered.

"Well, yes I do. But why do you ask?"

"I dunno, I was just wondering," he shrugged and leaned back in his chair," I was just curious, I mean, I was just thinking we don't know very much about each other's personal lives. I don't even know what your favorite colour is Scully." Mulder said, sounding kind of sad about that.

Scully, wondering exactly what had brought this on, stopped typing and thought a moment.

"I took drivers end in my freshmen year," she began," I wasn't really looking forward to it. I took it mostly to get it over and done with. I knew I would need to take it eventually and I didn't want to put it off and then have to take it at a time when I was busy."

"So even in High School you were very logical." Mulder interrupted with a grin. Scully shot him a playful warning look. Mulder apologized and asked her to continue.

"I remember I was upset because my friend wasn't in the same class as I was. We got over that though. Our parents traded off on picking us up after school. After the first class she came out with the biggest smile on her face."

She paused a moment and Mulder wondered if it was nostalgia or if she wanted to keep him in suspense.

"Why was she smiling?" He asked picking up a pencil from his tray and twirling it between his thumb and index finger.

"Because Daniel Henning was in her class. She'd had a crush on him for a couple of weeks," she shook her head, "Oh, you will not believe how long she talked about that, the whole way home in the car I got to hear about every little thing he did in class. She informed me about ever article of clothing he was wearing that day. You can imagine my excitement," she said sarcastically.

"So I take it you weren't impressed?"

"He was," she thought a moment, "cheesy." "Cheesy, Scully?" Mulder said laughing.

"Well, that's the only word there is to describe this guy," she said laughing with him, defending her comment.

"Did she ever ask him out?" He leaned forward and propped his arms on the desk.

"You know..." her brow wrinkled, "I don't know."

"Why not?"

Scully sighed. "We moved at the end of that year and driver's ed. ended four days into summer. I stayed after classes longer so I could finish early and not have to take it all over again after we moved."

"Didn't you two keep in contact?"

"We did for a little while but she never really mentioned him. So I can pretty safely assume that they never went out, if they had I'm sure that would have been included somewhere in the first sentence of at least one, if not more, of the letters."

There was a pause in the conversation, in which Mulder wonder what it would've been like to move so much as a child.

Scully broke the silence. "What about you Mulder? When did you take drivers ed.?" Mulder looked up as if he was surprised she was asking.

"I took it....", he thought for a moment, "my sophomore year. Yeah it was the first semester of my sophomore year."

"Why so late?"

"Oh, it wasn't because I didn't want to go, it's entirely the opposite. I couldn't wait to get my license. My father didn't want me to take it until I was older. He said the insurance was horrible and he didn't want me to wreck his car. He thought that if I waited until I was older and more responsible I would be less likely to get in an accident. He was right too."

Scully stood up, walked around his desk and sat on the edge crossing her legs. "So what made him change his mind?"

He blinked. "Actually I don't know. The last week of my freshman year, after all my friends had taken the class and most had taken the driving part, my dad knocked on my door one day and told me that I could sign up if I'd like to. I have no idea what brought that on."

"You didn't ask him?"

"Honestly at the time it never occurred to me to ask. I was so surprised and thrilled that I don't think I would've questioned it even if it had occurred to me."

"I see," Scully said as she nodded her understanding.

Mulder continued. "I went, the fifth week of school and completed it no problem. It was a little awkward being one of the only three sophomores in the class but I got over that, most of them weren't that much younger than I was anyway. Plus I had the teacher that most of my friends had, so they gave me pointers on the tests and how to get on the teachers good side during the driving part."

"Did you pass the first time?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, did you?"

"Yeah, I still don't know how much it would've cost to take the class a second time, but I wasn't about to find out that way. Besides... I don't think I could've lived through watching those videos again."

Mulder chuckled at the idea of a teenage Scully struggling to keep awake through hours of "educational videos".

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with you on that one Scully. They were a little on the dull side, they weren't they?"

"Oh don't get me wrong they were all right one time, even if nobody got any sleep during High School anyway, but a second time would've been a little too easy to sleep through," she said frankly.

The phone rang. Scully reached across Mulder and answered.

"Scully...." A pause then she looked up at Mulder, covering the phone with her hand. "The lab results are ready." Mulder was about to say something but she was already talking into the phone. "I'll be down to get them in a minute Agent Pendrell, thank you."

"Pendrell?" Mulder asked, already knowing the answer.

Scully nodded with a grin. "I'll be back in a minute." She hopped off the desk. "We can go over them before we turn in the report on Thursday," Scully said hoping Mulder would remember to turn in the report to AD Skinner this time.

"Okay, I'll see ya in a minute then Scully," he said as he put the pencil he'd been playing with back down. She turned to leave and Mulder went back to typing. She paused and turned around.

"Green," she said.

"Excuse me?" Mulder looked up from the keyboard.

"My favorite colour, you said you didn't know what it is. It's emerald green."

Mulder smiled and Scully closed the door and walked down the hallway. Mulder sat back and listened to her heels clicking as she walked to the elevator.

<> he thought, <> and he made a mental note to thank her sometime.

The End