Work Text:
“Try it again.”
“I did! It’s not working!” She growls at him from her spot on the floor of the elevator. “Or they’re just ignoring us.” She mutters to herself, not caring if he hears her.
He spins on his heels, his arms raised above him as he curses. “Of course, why would they care what happens to Mr. and Mrs. Spooky?” He bangs on the walls of the elevator and screams to alert someone on the other side. “HELP! HELP!”
Beside him, his partner takes off her heels and gets down on the floor. “Will you knock it off Mulder? I’m sure that someone will notice the elevator isn’t working eventually.”
He stops his banging, beginning to feel dizzy and unsteady on his feet, his body slams against the closest wall of the elevator in a last ditch effort to get someone’s attention. “We’ve been in here for an hour, Scully! An hour! If they haven’t noticed the elevator isn’t working by now then we are definitely going to be in here for the rest of the night!” He says, wildly gesticulating in the woman’s face.
“Mulder, you need to sit down; I can see the sweat pouring down your face.”
“I’m not sweating.” He lies to himself, as he brushes the back of his hand across his forehead. Hastily he takes off his jacket and throws it to the ground on the other side of the elevator. Slamming his fist on the doors again, he screams for help again. “Get us out of here!”
He looks down at his partner when he feels a tug on his pant leg.
“Mulder, sit down. Please?” Scully gives him those doe eyes he can’t resist and it’s the compassion in her eyes that makes him stop. He bangs against the door once more before leaning against the back wall, slowly falling to the floor. He rests his head against the wall, willing his heart rate to slow.
While sitting, he kicks the those damn doors with the heel of his foot for good measure.
“Mulder?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you claustrophobic?” She asks him scanning him over, taking in his sweaty form.
He runs his hand through his hair, not daring to look her in the eye. “Claustrophobic? Me? No!” A bead of sweat rolls down his cheek as he answers her, as if it’s his body’s intention to prove him wrong.
“You know, it’s not as uncommon as you think. A good portion of the population has a fear of in closed spaces.” She tries to reassure him.
He rests his head in his hands. “I’m not claustrophobic, Scully. I just really have to pee.” He knows he’s lying; he can feel his heart racing in his chest. And the sweating. The sweating doesn’t help.
“Sure you’re not.” She rolls her eyes. She relaxes against the wall with her eyes closed for just a moment before she is jolted back when he starts to pound on the door again. “Mulder!” He pounds on the door once more before stopping. He turns around to look at her. “Come here!” She states sternly, pointing to the ground next to her.
He seems to mentally debate the pros and cons of his options before he gives in and lowers himself to the floor, slowly settling on the ground beside her. He lays on the floor, head in her lap. He closes his eyes as her fingers thread through his hair. “Scully, how long do you think we’ll be in here?”
She looks at the watch on his wrist; it’s just after 7pm. They should have known better than to stay at work late, past the time when most of the staff stays in the Hoover building. “I don’t know, but someone will find us.” She plays with his hair, something she knows calms him down, but it is not enough to make him relax enough to slow his heart rate.
When they are both on the floor, time passes quickly with them lost in their own world. Before they know it, it’s 9pm and the doors are still not open.
“Why did you leave your cellphone in the office?” She asks, running her fingers through his locks.
He rolls over, pressing his face into her stomach. “The same reason your phone is dead.”
“Mulder, that makes no sense.” She lifts her head up from the wall to look at him weirdly. He mumbles something into her shirt; neither of them are quite sure what he said but that doesn’t matter. He groans again before jumping to his feet to pound on the elevator doors again.
“HELP!” He screams. Behind him, his partner lets him be as he attempts to grab someone's attention. Beads of sweat roll down his back and his heart rate increases with each bang on the door. He hears his partner take off her jacket and toss it to the ground. It is getting rather hot in here.
He rests his head against the doors, willing himself not to break down. He’s been in this metal death contraption for far too long. He pounds on the door three more times before walking back to the opposite wall to sit down, defeated.
“How much longer do you think this is going to take?” He asks, resting his head on her shoulder. He feels her shrug against him. HIs heart still racing in his chest, he wills himself to relax, failing miserably. He just wants to go home.
The night passes slowly with no one showing up, but what do they expect when most agents work nine to five and there are two elevators?
“I was supposed to have dinner with my mom tonight. Nothing fancy, but I was supposed to be at her house by eight last night.” She says airily, her eyes fluttering as she leans on her partner’s shoulder. His sweaty shoulder.
He smiles over at her. “Are you going to make up for it tonight?”
“Please don’t say tonight as if we were here all night.”
“But we were here all night.”
She groans. “What time is it?” He lifts his hand up to her, showing her his watch. “8:30am. We’ve been in here for over twelve hours!”
“Only twelve? I feels like 24!” He exclaims in frustration.
“Someone should show up soon, notice something’s not right with the elevator..” Though she does her best to reassure him, it doesn't help his racing heart, if it doesn’t slow down soon, he feels like he would have a heart attack. The next half an hour goes by slowly, but once 9am comes around, he quickly gets to his feet and pounds on the door. “HELP! HELP US! HELP!” He shouts through the door.
A moment later his partner joins him in banging against the wall, trying to get someone’s attention to the broken elevator. “HELP!” She screams! “HELP US! SOMEONE! ANYONE!”
There has to be someone in the building, someone, anyone, to hear their screams or notice they’re missing. Fear that they will be stuck in this place for the rest of their lives. The walls start to close in on him and he screams louder. “HELP!”
Then suddenly, “Hello? Who’s in there?” Though it’s hard to hear through the elevator doors, both agents are pretty sure it’s Heather from HR.
“It’s Mulder and Scully! We’re stuck in here!”
“Hang on! I’ll get help!”
There’s silence once again and they both hope she keeps her word. Mulder takes the time to sit on the floor on the other side of the small room. His heart starts to slow, knowing that he was finally going to be free of this small death contraption. He is going to be free. Well, so will his partner, but being trapped in the elevator for 14 hours doesn’t seem to have the same effect on her that it does on him.
He checks his watch every minute, waiting for the woman to return. Ten minutes pass before they hear another sound from the other side of the door.
“Don’t worry Agents, we’ll get you out of there!” Mulder looks at Scully with relief, to find that she has the same look on her face.
“Skinman! You have no idea how happy we are to hear your voice!” He says with a sigh, resting his head on the wall behind him.
“How long have you two been in there?”
Scully pipes in from beside him. “Since six last night when we left.”
They didn’t hear his response, but instead they heard a bang on the door. “We’re having trouble opening the door from this end. I’m going to have someone call the fire department to get you two out of there. Hold on.”
He frowns, kicking the door with the heel of his foot in frustration. They were going to have to spend another hour in here. “Hurry! I’ve had to pee since 3am! My bladder is a ticking time bomb! And let’s not mention the fart I’ve been holding in for the last five hours!” That should get them moving.
His partner’s eyes widen comically. She gets to her knees and faces the door. “Hurry!”
“They’re on their way, Agent Mulder. Hang tight.”
He times it; 11 minutes exactly before the fire department makes it to the elevator doors. By that point, he’s just about to start doing a little dance to keep his bladder from exploding.
It takes them no more than 10 minutes to get the door open; he waits anxiously by the door the entire time while Scully calmy sits in her spot. He can hear the metal on metal from the other side of the door, which strangely calms him because he knows they are actively working on getting them out of the elevator. Beside him, his partner is pulling on her jacket and shoes.
“Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Fuck yes.”
As if the universe was waiting for that reply, the doors slowly begin to open. As soon as he steps out of the elevator, he pulls Skinner in for the tightest hug imaginable. “Now excuse me, I need to use the little boy’s room.” He briskly walks toward the closest restroom. Out of the corner of his eye he sees his partner giving the Skinner a strange look of wonder before she too heads to the bathroom.
“Agent Scully!” Skinner calls after them. Mulder looks back for just a moment before he turns the corner before beelining for the little boys room. “How about you two take the day off? You’ve been here all night.” The man offers.
She nods a thank you to him before heading to the restroom after her partner.
Once out of the bathroom, the two agents head home for a good day’s rest.