SILVER LINING: a double drabble

A day like any other - routine, tiring, unremarkable.

Finally my desk is cleared. I gather jacket and briefcase, but then stand staring down at the wet street below, reluctant to face the drive to an empty apartment, a lonely meal, the same old, same old.

Rain patters against the window. When is summer going to arrive? Somehow the weather exacerbates my ennui. I feel purposeless, uninspired, weary.

Habit straightens my spine and pushes me homeward, along a deserted corridor into an empty elevator. A hand stops the doors closing. Mulder slips in, smiling his secret smile, leaning negligently against the wall. Watching me.

I've no energy to fight my dangerous feelings tonight, so I close my eyes.

"Any plans, sir?"

Startled, I'm sure I frown. "Plans, Agent Mulder?"

"For tonight?" he pursues.

"No..."

"In that case, you're having dinner with me."

Now I know I'm gaping like an idiot. The elevator doors open on the parking garage. He grabs my hand, tugging me after him. Halts, so that my next disoriented step brings me close. Looks right into my eyes.

"Happy birthday..." a grin, "...Walter."

A day quite unlike any in all my 47 years.

THE END