paper hearts by ali novak (the heartbreakers, book 2) release date: july 4, 2017 overall rating: 4.1/5 characters: 4 relationships: 4 plot: 4.5 writing: 4 genre: YA, contemporary, romance synopsis: Felicity has her entire future planned. Ever since her older sister ran away, she’s had the full weight of her mother’s expectations on her shoulders. So she works hard to get straight As and save for…
“I don’t know… but I do know you,” she says to him softly, yet so surely.
If there’s anyone in this world that knows him, Mulder knows it is Dana Scully.
So much has happened, so many mistakes made. By him. And she gets chewed out for it, just because she’s his partner, not to mention the snickers and the Mrs. Spooky jokes in the hallways and the elevators. Maybe one day he’ll dig a tunnel to make a special entrance to their office for her, so they never have to ride the elevator or walk in the hallways again.
He’ll begin his mandatory leave starting tomorrow. Suspension without pay, maybe. Leaving Scully to fend on her own. He hasn’t heard yet. Hell, maybe there’s some punishment coming her way, too. Mulder hopes Skinner will be lenient on her. He’s the one who’s dragged them into this case, he’s the one who socked a prisoner, let alone checking him out and letting him kidnap that child from the plane…
So. many. mistakes. Why does she even put up with him?
He doesn’t want to think about Scully on her own without him. And for that, he’ll take all the steps he needs to take, talk to a shrink, participate in whatever workshops or program or support they want him to complete. Bring it on.
Mulder had expected to deal with an angry Scully. It’s been four years and he still ditches her. Of course, there was no way Scully would have agreed to what he had planned to do, but he knew he was counting on Scully to save his ass, no matter what situation he got himself into.
Scully will always come to rescue him. He believes that more than anything in the world.
Mulder is shocked at the compassion of his partner. She knows. She knows. She knows how much he wants to find Samantha, how much he wants to know. She knows he wouldn’t have done what he did if there were other ways, better ways. She knows he gets a little insane like this, yet she still sticks around.
Now she’s in the hot seat with him. Now she’s gonna get suspended. Now she’s gonna face hallway whispers. Will anyone sit with her at lunch while he’s away? Can he talk her into taking a few personal days off? Can they turn this little incident into a mini holiday, make lemonades from these the lemons?
Mulder’s beginning to like that idea about living underground more and more now. Why stop at the tunnel? Might as well build an underground den for her. He thinks about those sophisticated fallout shelters people planned in the 60’s with fears of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The only thing he’ll miss would be the sun, he’s sure.
Yeah, he’s given this a lot of thoughts. He might think about it some more during his mandatory leave. Maybe that’s what he needs to plan for alien colonization. A fallout shelter for him and Scully. He’s sure she’ll come. She’ll come if he asks nicely, right? She’ll come if he’s there, right?
“Why don’t you go on home and get some sleep?” Scully says again, and he wants to laugh. He does. She does, too.
Hugging her hips closer, he thinks that Scully is like the sun, giving warm and filling him up with life.
She looks down at his twinkling eyes, those lips cracked into a smile, and Scully suddenly understands that she’ll do anything to make him light up like the sun.
And neither of them knows that they think of each other as the sun. But they do. And they are.
