Mulder propped his elbows on the table and opened the file folder for what felt like the hundredth time, his eyes tiredly scanning the information in front of him, and his mind considering what might be missing. The interview tapes played quietly in the background as he reviewed times and places…names and occupations…measurements and explanations…

None of it told him much of anything.

The only thing he knew for certain was that abducting people by day was not this kidnapper’s M.O. The guy was getting desperate. And desperation almost always meant things were about to get violent.

Mulder guessed the perp was a male between the ages of 35 and 50, and that he worked or lived nearby and probably had a generic, run of the mill desk job as his occupation. He’d be average looking…medium height and build…someone who could easily blend into any number of locations in and around Scranton Business Park. So, basically he could be anyone.

He slammed the folder closed angrily and ran his hands through his hair. The only lead he had so far was the gut feeling that something wasn’t right about the basement. But gut feelings didn’t usually get him results. He needed Scully to bounce ideas off of…he needed Scully to tell him what was crazy and what made sense. His eyes sort of glazed over with exhaustion and he bit down on his cheek harshly to keep it at bay.

He had to focus.

He dialed her number again and waited, tossing his phone aside when the only answer he received was her very official sounding voice telling him to leave a message at the tone.

He had to think of something.

Fast.

***

“Do you know why he's keeping you here?” Scully asked tiredly, shifting on the floor in a hopeless attempt to get more comfortable. The three other people in the room who were awake stared at her in obvious exhaustion.  There wasn't much to do at this point besides sleep.

“Not really. He said something about mattering to people? But that was,” Jordan sighed and looked at his wristwatch, “three days ago, so…” he shrugged, “who knows.” Scully nodded and scanned the room for at least the tenth time, looking for some salvation…some way out. The only vague idea she’d had in the first place was somehow using the pipes in the bathroom to…she wasn’t even sure. Inventive thinking wasn’t her strongest area. She needed Mulder. “Do you think we’ll make it out of here?” Jordan asked quietly, and Scully felt Pam’s eyes staring desperately at her, hot and insistent.

“I…uh…” she shrugged, “I hope so,” she finally responded quietly. Jordan nodded and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, effectively ending their dialogue. Scully sighed.

“So,” Pam muttered quietly after a lengthy pause, her voice hushed so she wouldn’t disturb the others, “What’s going on with you and Agent Mulder?” Scully felt her face get hot and she swallowed visibly. A weighty silence hung in the air as she tried and failed to formulate an appropriate response. The truth was she wasn’t sure.

“What’s going on with you and Jim Halpert?” she countered, turning her head to look Pam in the eye. Pam’s eyebrows shot up and her moth dropped open in surprise. Eventually she recovered and offered a slow nod, as if accepting a challenge.

“Got it, I won’t ask,” she murmured, and Scully felt momentarily satisfied. But the feeling was fleeting.

***

***

“Jim overheard me talking to my mother on the phone,” Pam whispered, clutching her cell phone in her hand and staring down at the word Jim that glared up at her. Scully shifted beside her and cleared her throat uncomfortably, unsure what the appropriate response to this awkward confession might be. “I said some things he probably shouldn’t have heard…” Pam explained. The silence once again lingered as Scully simply stared at her in confusion. Pam shrugged in response. “Nevermind.  Sorry.  I guess I, um...I just thought maybe making conversation would…help the time...pass? Or just…” Scully nodded.

“What did you say that he shouldn‘t have heard?” she wondered, resigning herself to talk with this receptionist in a way that she hadn‘t really talked to another woman since her sister died. Pam sucked in a heavy lungful of air and shook her head at the memory.

“Uh…that I wanted to take off his shirt, puke on his shoes, and confess my undying love to him,” she murmured self-deprecatingly. God, the entire thing was mortifying. Although maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about that now that she was in here and Jim was…not. She looked back down at her phone again and frowned. “I’m in love with him,” she murmured, and Scully hummed a knowing response. “He told me he loved me last year and I couldn’t…I just…it was like I couldn’t love him then, you know what I mean? Not that I didn’t, but I…”

“Yeah, I do know what you mean,” Scully interrupted, her voice sounding almost wistful in a way that made Pam look over at her in interest. She watched her face thoughtfully, watched the way that one of her auburn eyebrows was lifted subtly and her eyes were a warm shade of blue…the way that her lips were pursed in a bittersweet sort of frown.

“What happened with you and Agent Mulder?” she wondered quietly, hoping that she wouldn’t break the spell of honesty that seemed to have draped itself over the two of them. It was funny the way unlikely people could bond in desperate situations. Scully’s head shook softly, her eyes glazed over in thought.

“We…it’s complicated,” she finished tiredly and Pam tipped her head, rolling her eyes a little.

“What isn’t?” she wondered, and Scully smirked dryly in her direction.

“True,” she admitted, “That is true.” Silence reigned again and someone in the far corner of the room sniffed and shifted in their sleep. “I kissed him,” Scully confessed, “this morning…” Pam nodded.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Pam asked, her arms crossed protectively over her chest and her ankles crossed out in front of her. Scully inhaled audibly and almost shook herself out of a daze.

“Nothing,” she stated firmly, “Nothing. We’re partners, and the job is what’s important. Anything else would jeopardize our work…”

The two drifted off in thought, each staring straight ahead and considering their sitaution…considering the irony of ending up here, trapped in a bomb shelter, when the world had been happening to them only hours before. Finally, Pam swallowed.

“You know, Jim kissed me last year, after…” Scully nodded and Pam continued, not feeling the need to finish the sentence, “But I was engaged at the time, to Roy, and it was just…” she paused and thought for a moment, trying to figure out how exactly to say what she meant. She self consciously thought that someone as direct and honest as Agent Scully probably never had the problem of not knowing what to say. Finally she went on, “I thought Roy was my life,” she admitted, “and even considering having something with Jim would be like…” She shook her head, “I couldn’t do it,” she admitted quietly. Scully was motionless beside her and Pam wondered if she was even breathing. She turned to look at the agent's stoic profile and Pam felt her own meaning low in her stomach, the tone of her words reflecting her very clear intention, “I was wrong,” she stated with sure determination. Scully’s head turned on her pale neck and her cold eyes melted into Pam’s honesty. The agent nodded, her striking red bob shifting ever so slightly with the motion.

“Yeah,” she murmured, and Pam knew that she understood.

***

Jim didn’t care how cold it was.

He didn’t care how ridiculous he seemed. He didn’t care how many people walked by him and stared.

He was not moving from Pam’s car…even if it killed him.

He was not moving as long as there was a chance in hell that she might appear…she might show up all breathless and say that she’d ditched work whimsically to go buy art supplies or something and smile when she saw that he’d waited…she might come out the door of Scranton Business Park with her coat wrapped tightly around her, asking him why he’d come down without her, explaining that she’d been in Bob Vance’s office the whole time, avoiding Angela because it was just easier than…just…

She might be here, needing him to walk her to her car like usual.

She might be needing him.

He sniffed in the chilly air and Stanley nodded solemnly to him as he walked by and climbed into his car, turning the engine and driving away without another glance toward Jim at all.

He didn’t care how ridiculous it was. He was not going to budge from this spot.

He thought of the way that Pam’s voice had been so starkly honest on the phone with her mother…the way that they had suddenly and accidentally been teetering on the edge of honesty, suddenly and accidentally swaying there like a single nudge would knock them into a fantastic kind of free fall. He hadn’t even meant to wear this sweater…he hadn’t even thought about…

He hadn’t even realized she was in love with him.

It was fascinating the way a person could convince himself that something wasn’t true…the way someone’s self-esteem could be so low that he would shrug off meaningful glances and heartfelt confessions because it was just too much otherwise…it just made him too vulnerable. It was like, once she suggested that he’d misinterpreted their friendship…once she’d pointed out to him that Roy was who she wanted…he’d believed her like she was telling him the truth. He’d thought, yes…yes that was what he’d done, he‘d misinterpreted things. He’d thought yes…yes of course she wanted Roy, she’d always wanted Roy and had never really said otherwise. He’d been confused, and, god, it wouldn’t have been the first time.

But somewhere low and real he knew that wasn’t true. Somewhere human and honest he knew that they were cheating themselves…that she was lying to him.

And today he’d heard it with his own ears. Pam was in love with him.

He hadn’t even realized.

He leaned back against Pam’s driver side door and stared down at his shoes, his shoulders hunched like he’d seen a ghost, and his eyes watering with the cold.

It had to be the cold making his eyes water.

Had to be.

He sniffed and reminded himself that he didn’t care how cold it was.

He was not going to budge from this spot.

Because maybe Pam would show up...because maybe she was fine...or maybe she was needing him.

He licked his lips and he sniffed…

And he waited.