Tuesday July 5, 2016

Ella sat down at the table in the office breakroom, setting down her tupperware container of salad. As it popped open, she looked outward to the large window and stared out at the cityscape. She thought about the family party and felt a pang of guilt deep in her stomach. It made it difficult to think about eating. Looking down at the shining green leaves, she sighed and pulled out her smartphone. As she scrolled through her contacts she practiced what she would say when her mother picked up the phone.

She stopped scrolling at the image of her mother's smiling face, her thumb hovering over the call icon.

"Hey, you!" A voice called behind her and she jumped slightly, her thumb tapping the call button. She hastily hung up as she turned to face the man, relaxing at seeing the familiar face despite his amused expression to her fright, "Sorry, you alright?"

"Ryan, yeah, I was just going to call my mom."

He cringed, "Oh, sorry."

"No, no, it's fine, what's up?" she smiled.

Grabbing at a chair, he plopped into the seat and leaned it back on two legs. "You see the fireworks last night?"

"I don't like fireworks." she reminded. "Why?"

He raised a brow, "Then you missed it!" Ryan cried enthusiastically and leaned forward, the chair smacking against the floor loudly. He pulled out his phone and pulled up a video, "Check this out, you're into this unexplained shit."

Ella blinked, her lips slightly parted into a smile, "'unexplained shit'?"

"Just watch," he pointed passionately at the screen of his phone.

A raw footage video bounced on the screen. Colorful fireworks exploded across the frame in a fantastic display.

"What am I-" she stopped mid criticism and narrowed her eyes, taking the phone from his hand so she could bring it closer to her face. "Are those meteors?"

"Yup," Ryan leaned back into the chair and smiled haughtily, "Crazy right?"

She shrugged and, when the video ended, handed him his phone, "Not really, why?"

Ryan smirked confidently, his eyes pulled tight at the corners. "There was no scheduled meteor shower." When she didn't respond but instead just stared, her jaw dropped, he continued. "NASA didn't know about it, they're not even available for comment right now."

When her face fell into one of curiousity, Ryan restarted the video and handed it back to her.

Looking back down at the screen she continued to watch the video. "So it- whoa, did you see that?" A strange light appeared halfway through the shower, mixed beside the rest of the meteors. It blended well. While the others were emitting a light orange hue the unusual one emitted a slightly more white light.

He leaned forward to peer at the screen and she tilted it slightly so he could watch as she pulled the video indicator back to restart the part she had doubled back on. "That- there!" She pointed her finger to trail a specific meteor, "did you see it?"

"Uuuh, no. No, I didn't." He squinted his eyes to watch more carefully when she restarted again.

"There!" When she glanced back and saw that he didn't see it again, despite her finger running directly under it, she sighed. "You don't see that?"

"El, all I see are meteors." Ryan admitted.

"Forget it." she pushed his phone back into his palm and leaned back in her chair, defeated. 

Though she couldn't get Ryan to see what she saw, she was still intrigued. She focused her gaze and stared at her phone, laying on the table, forcing herself not to pick it up to find another video of it. She leaned forward, propping her elbows up on the table on either side of her salad. "So, it wasn't expected... how do you miss something like that?"

He shrugged his shoulders, his arms still crossed against his toned chest- accentuated by his form fitting button-up shirt. "I don't know but, then again, I don't work for NASA..."

"There's gotta be more than what we know..."

"Okay, Mulder, looks like we have another X-File case on the table... For the sake of arguing that it's not aliens... maybe it was-" he snapped his fingers and pointed them at her like a gun, "Maybe it was a fallen satellite!"

Ella laughed awkwardly, "You know what, never mind." she changed the subject, "Did you need something? Other than showing off your shitty video taking skills..." she asked as she stuffed a forkful of chef salad in her mouth, her cheeks dimpled in a smug smile.

"Yeah," he nodded at her diversion and ignored her ornery comment. "-it's about the case." He began, folding his hands on the table.

Her smile faded and she pushed her food to one side of her mouth. "Did you find Walker?" she asked around a cheek full of lettuce.

"Yeah, we booked 'im on plain sight. Get this, the idiot had the murder weapon sitting in the foot well of his jeep..." he laughed at the ludicrousness and she smiled in return before he continued, "He's in with Hank right now."

Hank could break anyone. Even someone as thick headed as their suspect, John Walker. 

Swallowing her food, she met his gaze, "--but?"

"but his alibi checks out." His 'S' shaped eyebrows resting lower in his indifference for their suspect.

"Are you kidding me? We have him dead to rights! We've got his DNA--" she began to list off her fingers.

Ryan nodded with each argument she voiced, the flip in his hair giving him the appearance of a rhinoceros thrusting its head aggressively. "Which he explained away as having sparred with our vic late last night."

"Yeah, but we got his TOD at 10:--"

"Walker used his credit card at Malarky's at 9:23p"

Ella closed her eyes in defeat, her expression softening. "That's halfway across the city..."

"-he couldn't have made it in time to kill our vic."

"Then what about the murder weapon?"

"He's claiming that he's had the top off all day... killer could have dumped it."

"In a jeep?!" she argued, disbelief heavy in her voice.

"Maybe it's a frame job."

"We're back at square one." she admitted and felt her resolve fall away like heavy armor, "Damn."

Ryan shrugged helplessly, "-We'll see after Hank gets out."

She sighed and stabbed at her remaining salad idly. "This is exhausting." She brought her other hand up to her head and massaged her temple.

"There's more." Ryan's round face was taut with reluctance.

"Oh please, I really can't take much more..." she dropped her fork and just as quickly; her face into her hands, hiding from the bad news.

"Yeah," he drawled in his hesitation, "I need to know... I need to know, if you're up for pizza and a beer later."

Her head shot up, smiling at his segue into non-work discussion. "What's the occasion?"

He pushed out his lip and shook his head nonchalantly, "Nothing, just felt like pizza and figured, 'you know what would make this even better--? Beer'." He tapped his chin lightly with his index finger, "Oh, and my best friend." He added flippantly, pointing at her lazily.

Ella's smile stretched further across her face, her cheeks pushing her eyes into slits. Ryan was one of the greatest things in her life. She honestly had no idea what she'd do with out him backing her up. When he smiled in return, a bright and kind smile, she felt a warm feeling spread through her chest. Ryan had a presence about him that always made her feel better. Even just hearing his voice during a bad day could make her relax more than any material thing. 

That's why what she had to say next made a pang of sour guilt course through her veins. 

"I would but Nathan is going to be home later tonight," she commented as she turned her attention to the television momentarily, if only to avoid any sad look in his eyes. The news broadcast was reviewing the latest election news. Front runner for Republican nominee, Linda Faust - a young, tall, beautiful, blond woman – led a large rally against the use of green energy, supporting more American jobs by opening new coal mines and oil refineries.

Despite the fleeting distraction, Ella still felt a sour taste in her mouth and smacked her lips as she turned back to look at Ryan.

"Oh, so no sleepover? I was going to bring my favorite rom-coms and everything!" He mock pouted; pushing his lower lip out, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms with a final huff of air.

She sighed dejectedly, feeling worse despite his playful jest. "Ryan, you know how he gets about people being at the house." she replied remoarsefully. Ryan was one of her favorite people, she hated turning him down just because her boyfriend was jealous.

"In fact, I'm leaving here to get home early, surprise him with dinner- our fifth year anniversary was Monday..." she continued when Ryan made a face at the mention of Nathan.

"Did he call you?" He raised a brow in question, his expression unnaturally solemn to his usual soft look.

She shrugged slightly and barely shook her head in response, "Monday was a really important meeting for the company- for him, really."

Ryan's irritated look was not lost on her but she didn't want to hear his sympathy talk. "Uh-huh."

"Listen, Ryan, it's-" she started but he looked up suddenly and cleared his throat, cutting her off.

"So, you're not going with us to Charlotte?" he averted casually, referring to the call they got from a local PD to assist on a serial case. 

"Nah, you guys don't need me on this one..." she replied absentmindedly, sealing her half-eaten salad back up to take home.

Ryan stood as she did, "I'll walk you down."

"Thanks, I just need to finish up some research and I'll be ready to go."

"Research?"

She looked down sheepishly and turned away from him, "onwherethemeteorslanded."

"Excuse me?!" he guffawed.

She glanced over her shoulder with an ornery smile and a wink.

Ryan laughed heartily, "You're such a nut... you belong in the basement with all your cold cases and fringe events- using supernatural occurrences as your explanation." He pushed the chair in, "I never should have shown you that."

She whistled the X-Files tune as she held the door open for him.

Side by side, they walked down the hall to the main office where desks were filed neatly in rows across the large area. She navigated the bullpen to her desk and flopped into the office chair. Spinning it to face her keyboard she clicked furiously at the keys, unlocking her computer and pulling up her browser.

Ryan sat at the edge of her desk, on top of some stacked files. "You're really serious about this, aren't you, Agent Dyer. Using FBI resources to look up something nobody else cares about."

"Ryan," she warned playfully, a mischievous smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

"Sweetheart," he echoed her tone, his eyes smiling as he practiced a false, disapproving frown.

"You really don't think it's the least bit suspicious?"

"Meteors? No, I don't think meteors are suspicious. In fact, last night, I thought it was cool."

"Name one time there was ever an unscheduled meteor shower or when there was a downed satellite they didn't warn us about."

He stammered, looking to the ceiling.

"Exactly,"

"I didn't realize I was on Jeopardy, will you give me a second? It's not exactly common knowledge here!"

"I just want to see where they landed,"

"Probably in the ocean somewhere- listen, if it's not aliens then it's a government conspiracy..." he joked and waved his hands around in an ominous, mysterious manner and she giggled. "Look, Ella, it was a meteor shower, it's not that big of a deal."

"You yourself said that NASA wasn't available for comment-"

"Yeah, so?"

"So-"

"Bishop!" A bald, burly man barked loudly from the front of headquarters. 

"Yes sir, mister chief sir!" Ryan pivoted slightly on the desk to look to Hank who had his hands on his hips. 

"Get in here." Hank replied gruffly, turning into his glass walled office. 

Ryan sighed and dropped his chin to his chest, "I'll be back, Mulder." He mumbled to her and dropped from her desk and relented to his beckoning.

She barely looked away from her screen to watch him leave, her eyes darting across the webpage. "Uh-huh... you done it now, Bishop." 

O.o.O.o

Ella stood in her kitchen, barefoot, her left foot resting behind her right ankle, toes curled. She bobbed her head to the music as she stirred the pot of sauce with a wooden spoon. Smiling at the pleasant scent billowing up in the steam, she completed one more turn around the pot with her spoon before lifting out and gingerly tasting the creamy, white sauce. Pleased, she dropped it back in and spun on her toes to dance to the kitchen island, grabbing the pot lid and gracefully placing it into place over the spoon- preventing the pot and lid to fully create a seal.

The song changed and she threw out her arms in joy, she didn't love any song more than this one. "Dana! It's our song!" She called over the music and the dogs bounded in from the deck through the open sliding door, her tail wagging and tongue out.

She bent over and affectionately rubbed Dana's ears before patting her at the back of her head and standing back up, turning towards the hall to the left of the main entrance and foxtrotting to her room, Dana jogging behind her with her nails clicking against the hardwood. Ella waltzed to her large, wooden wardrobe and opened the decorated doors to reveal her dresses, pulling out several different colors and styles before deciding on a formfitting, red mini.

As she looked herself up and down in the full length mirror, she made a face at her hair, pulling it out of its messy bun and letting it fall to her shoulders and combed through it with her fingers. Glancing down at Dana who sat politely in the doorway to the hall, she turned in a circle, "How do I look?"

Dana barked once and shifted her sitting position excitedly.

"Yeah? I don't think I look that good." She smirked then glanced back at the mirror, flashing a seductive smile at herself. "I should brush my teeth, huh?"

Ella turned towards the attached bathroom when she heard the door deadbolt clang. Her coy expression turned quizzical, her eyes shifting towards Dana who turned to investigate. Suddenly excited, she threw herself back in front of the mirror and brushed at her face and checked her smile before half running into the hall until she heard a second, feminine voice.

"Oh, it smells good in here- aw, did you have your house keeper make up some dinner for us?" The feminine voice chirped before gasping when Dana rounded the hall corner into the entrance way, "Oh, you didn't mention you had a dooo-Aah!" She trailed off and her sentence transformed into a high-pitched squeal when Dana barked a single time.

"Dana, down!" Nathan demanded but Dana barked again and from her frozen position in the hall, Ella watched as her dog backed away from the two, barking consistently. "Dana, shush!"

"Can't you put her outside?" The woman asked and Ella could picture the woman hiding behind Nathan, her hands gripping his arm.

"She'll get over it- c'mere..." he assured his date and then growled out playfully, Ella had to strain to hear him over her loyal companions protests at the newcomer.

The woman giggled and hummed and Ella knew what was happening but couldn't bring herself to move to stop it.

Dana's constant barking rang in her ears and it irritated her further, her brain racking for logical explanations to ease her breaking heart. Wondering where she'd gone wrong, when she'd began to make the same mistake her mother did time and again. She thought about how Ben had warned her. Considered when she should have started to see the signs... The oven dinged, announcing to the two arrivals that her chicken breasts were finished and that she was in the house.

The mistress gasped, "Is your maid still here?"

"Maid?" Ella whispered to herself, her hurt and confusion transforming into ugly anger. Her face taut with resentment as she found her feet could move once more and she stalked into view.

"Oh mah gawd!" The woman gasped in surprise, her fingers still tangled in Nathan's thick black hair but she quickly relaxed and looked Ella up and down in polite shock, "Do all your house maids dress like that?"

Nathan pulled his lips into a fine line, his eyes wide and steely blue, caught in his lie- in his unfaithfulness.

Her brow arched in contempt, Ella looked her competition up and down. She was pretty and slender, unlike her own toned body, the mistress had feminine curves which were heavily accentuated by her hip-hugging, black cocktail dress. Her natural black hair came down to her waist but was partly pinned up with authentic, decorative chopsticks.

The woman smiled sweetly, "I'm Mei, it's nice to meet you." She held out her dainty hand, and Ella couldn't help but notice the bright red nails despite ignoring the gesture and keeping her own, unpainted hands at her sides, clenched into fists.

"Ella, what are you doing here?" Nathan interrupted, his thick, boyish eyebrows lowering.

Her contempt for Mei channeled into her spite at Nathan, "Excuse me?!" her voice escalating immediately. "This is my house, Nathan. My house!"

"I thought you were going to North Carolina tonight..." Ella watched in awe as he had the audacity to check his watch, as though verifying whether or not she should be home.

"So you bring a woman here- to my house?"

Mei shifted uncomfortably, "Wait, you're married?"

"No, I'm not married." Nathan waved his hand dismissively at her and both women gaped. Realizing his mistake, he slackened his jaw but found no words.

"Give me your keys." She demanded, holding out her hand.

"What?" He barely looked at her, his gaze held by Ella's hard glare.

"Your keys. I want to leave." Mei glowered at him, her expression heated.

Ella smiled, all of her bitterness towards the woman subsided. "Yeah, honey, give her your keys."

"I'm not giving you my car." Nathan forced a half, nervous chuckle finally able to turn his head to look at Mei as he laughed in her face.

"Then you leave." Ella snapped and Dana began to bark again.

"Shut up, Dana!" Nathan shouted.

"Leave her out of this!" Ella rose her voice higher, her voice cracking only slightly.

"Nathan!" Mei pressed.

"Just everyone, shut up!!!" Nathan threw his arms up then down to his sides forcibly.

"Oh, you didn't plan for this? You don't have some back up plan to get out of it?!" Ella continued. "Did we catch you off guard by catching you in your lie?! How long has this been going on?!"

"Two years." Mei offered helpfully but her heated glare never left Nathan's face, who was looking back at Ella.

"Two- two years?!" Ella felt as though she was being crushed by some unseen force and it became harder for her to breathe.

Nathan was running his hand down his angular face and stopped at his nose as he glared at Ella for her comment, "Ella, stop... wait."

"No, you listen! --"

Mei held up a finger timidly, "Uh, Ella..."

"--I told you about my dad and about my mom's choices in life... how much that made me scared... you knew how I concerned I was about this, about us!" Nathan opened his mouth to speak, his jaw tight and hands on his hips, pushing his suit jacket back to reveal his red button-up. She couldn't help but note that it was a shirt she had bought him but she continued, forcing him quiet. "I told you to leave if you ever started to have a change of heart, that I'd rather you break my heart by leaving than by having secrets... how could you do this?!"

"Ella..." Mei tried again, speaking up slightly.

"Why? Just tell me why!" She unintentionally ignored the other slighted woman. "Forget it, it doesn't matter...."

"Well that's the problem, isn't it Ella?!" Nathan shouted, throwing his arms out in her direction aggressively but she remained fast in her position. "You do this-"

"The pot's burning!" Mei finally got both their attention and Ella turned to see smoke coming from the sauce pot. Just as she turned to resolve the problem, the fire alarm went off- ringing loudly within the house.

O.o.O.o

Ella sat on the deck in her red dress, the moon shining over the still water, though her eyes were blind to the natural beauty. Dana laid beside her, the dogs head in her lap. She felt a chill sweep over her as the night breeze came off the lake, but she didn't think about it- her mind filled with doubts and confusion.

The sound of heels clicking on wood, caught her attention but she didn't bother to turn around and neither did Dana. "Hey, Ella, I'm real sorry about all this... if I..." Mei trailed off and sighed, "anyway, the cab's here... So, I'm gonna go." When Ella refused to reply, Mei nodded, "Okay... well take care of yourself." Mei retreated back into the house and left through the front door, her stilettos clicking with each step she took.

Alone in her own house with her companion empathetic at her side, Ella felt tired suddenly but she was too emotionally and mentally weak to recognize it until she couldn't physically pull herself away from the edge of the dock.

Suddenly, her cellphone went off beside her- having grabbed it to call the cab for Mei. She glanced at it and saw a picture message from Ryan; a photo of a pile of paperwork and the caption, 'so much for my pizza party hope YOUR having fun'. Ella wanted to smile but couldn't, instead she typed out a simple reply.

'shouldn't you have left by now'

When he didn't respond, she called him and was surprised when he answered on the first ring.

"Hey, you alright?"  Ryan asked immediately, though his voice was taunting, prepping to tease her. "Thought you were celebrating..."

"Can you come over?" she asked pathetically, her voice weak. She cleared her throat.

"What happened, are you okay?"  His voice was instantly lower, intense. She could picture him sitting up straighter, his face taut.

"Just bring alcohol?" she diverted his line of questioning, grateful when her voice was stronger, "Please?" she sniffled and ran her finger under her nose.

"Yeah, I'll get some ice cream too." she could hear the rustling of his clothes and papers as he moved to stand. 

She smiled, a strange feeling considering how her heart and brain felt. "Thank you," she managed breathily, her voice cracking. "Hurry...?"

"I'm already out the door."