From: Jessica Zyvarek Taylor Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: The Waitress 1/1 Date: 15 Nov 1995 00:26:53 GMT Dana sighed. It was the end of a very long day. She hated waiting tables. But she hated being broke even more. Her father had decided that if he was paying for medical school, then she would pay for everything else. And right now, she was really beginning to miss those checks he had sent her all through college. So, here she was, leaning on the counter in a very beat up diner in a very beat-up, stained, too short uniform. She tugged on her skirt and looked at the clock. Damn. It had stopped again. She knew it wasn't time to close yet, but it was getting there. She decided to wait a few more minutes and if no one came in, then she was closing up. No one ever came in this place this late. People rarely came in this place at all. That was how she'd ended up working there. She wouldn't have to worry about running into any of her rich friends. She did not want to have to wait on her classmates. Sighing, she decided that a few more minutes had passed and made her way to the door. She had to remember to wear her watch the next time she came to work. Just as she reached the door, a couple opened it. She must have looked startled, because the guy looked concerned. "Are you still open?" He looked as if he was having the worst day of his life. And he was cute. Even if he had a girlfriend. She smiled and nodded, then made her way back to the counter. "What can I get for you?" She crossed her fingers and prayed they'd just eat something and leave. The couple eyed each other and then the woman spoke up."We'll just take some coffee. For now." The english accent startled Dana for a minute. Dana smiled at them and grabbed the coffee pot. She tried to hide the grimace that she felt creeping across her face. Coffee was bad. That meant they were going to sit and talk for a while. Likely all night, And there wasn't anything she could do about it. She had to let them stay as long as they wanted. She poured them coffee and went back to the kitchen to clean up. Maybe if she just ignored them, they'd go away. After what seemed like an interminably long time, and Dana had cleaned everything she could think of to clean, she heard the Accent. "Excuse me, Miss? Could we get some service please?" The woman sounded pissed. Before Dana could get out there, she heard the guy quietly trying to calm his friend down. "Look, she's probably busy. She's here all by herself. Let's just go somewhere else." The woman was about to respond when Dana walked back to the table. This time, she didn't even try to hide her disdain. Obviously, Miss Accent had never had to do anything she didn't want. Dana smiled and hoped she didn't look too angry. She didn't think her boss would appreciate it if she got into a fight with customers."What can I do for you?" The sarcasm was practically dripping out of her mouth. The guy looked like he wanted to say something, but one glance from the Accent shut him up. Dana almost laughed at how easily he was being played. "What do you have? Are there any menus or should we just know what you sell?" Dana wondered momentarily how her father would react if she got arrested for beating someone to death with a salt shaker- the only thing available to her at that moment. She started to wonder how long it would take to beat someone to death with a salt shaker before she remembered that she had to respond. "Actually, the cook has gone home for the night, so we have cereal, stale doughnuts, and pie." She smiled again. Maybe she could pour rat poison on whatever the bitch wanted. Apparently, Miss Accent had a problem with the fact that the cook was no longer available. Dana had actually started backing away from the table when they guy reached out and touched the woman on the arm. He looked at Dana and tried to smile. "We'll take some more coffee and two of those stale doughnuts." He turned his attention back to the woman. Dana hoped the bitch knew how lucky she was to have the rapt attention of this guy. As she walked away from the table, the Accent called her back. "Miss, what kind of pie is it?" She smiled again, making Dana want to punch her right in the jaw. "We have apple pie from yesterday, pumpkin from about a week ago, and some moldy peach from sometime last summer." Dana did not wait for an answer, she simply turned her back and walked away. When she returned to the table, she had two doughnuts, which she placed in front of the guy, three boxes of cereal (all that they had left), four pieces of pie (she'd managed to find the remains of a piece of blueberry in the bottom of the freezer), and a pot of coffee, all of which she tossed in front of the woman. "There is nothing else in this restaurant and if you have a problem with that, I advise that you go somewhere else." She folded her arms in front of her and smiled smugly. The woman took one look at the peach pie and ran out of the restaurant. Dana and the man stared after her for a moment. Then they looked at each other. She raised one eyebrow at him. "Charming girlfriend." "Tell me about it." Then he smiled. And Dana swore she'd never forget that smile. She walked away from the table and a few minutes later,she heard the door open. She listened to the sounds of a muffled argument. The voices got louder by the second, until Dana was sure they'd come back inside. Then there was the sound of a car. And the guy's voice. "Phoebe! Where are you-" Then squealing tires. When Dana came back out of the kitchen, the guy had sat back down at the table and was halfway through the slice of apple pie. He looked at her sheepishly, then went back to his dinner. She just looked at him and shook her head. The next day when she went to work, she told her boss that she wasn't closing up anymore. He wasn't exactly pleased with that. So she told him exactly where he could shove the diner and walked out. And that night, Fox Mulder went back to the diner to pay for the meal that he'd forgotten to pay for the night before, hoping that he'd see the waitress again. He liked her. She wasn't willing to take crap from anyone, not even Phoebe. He really liked her. And when the guy who was there informed him that she no longer worked there, he felt bad. Really bad. Considering the way they both reacted to Phoebe, he thought they could have been friends. Walking back out to his car, he murmured to himself,"I guess it just wasn't meant to be."