He doesn't answer her question. Right now, it doesn't matter what he thinks - not when she's so close to telling him something true. If he really has to, maybe they can get into the details of his current theory, but Mulder has the feeling it won't help them build trust. Not with how little he knows.
"Why'd you change your mind?" he asks instead, his hands folding together in the air between his knees.
There's a reason she can disappear into this coat. There's a reason she's been smoking so much more than she used to. It makes it easier to eat, because she's still skin and fucking bone. "According to the shitty doctor your colleagues made me see, I'm malnourished. I'm missing-" She sticks a finger in her mouth, digs back to missing molars. "I'm missing fucking teeth, man. What do you think?"
He doesn't look away from her open mouth, but he doesn't squint into it, either. Privately, he wonders just how bad this doctor was, if he can ask Scully to look the kid over. Maybe Scully'd do better with this one. It sure seems like he's striking out.
"I think that you experienced something that the people around you can't understand," he says. Calm, even-toned - she might respond if he rises to the bait, but she won't respect him. "But I might."
She'd smack him if he wasn't a weird cop or whatever. "Stop fucking fishing! Jesus Christ. Say what you think. I'm so fucking sick of reporters giving me this shit, I'm not gonna take if from you. You don't even have a camera!"
"Okay. I think you could tell me more about what happened out there - a lot more. But something's holding you back." It's a big swing, one he's not convinced will work - but if Natalie won't offer them anything, maybe she'll say something that'll connect to whatever Scully's learning from Taissa Turner. "What is it? What's keeping you from talking about what happened, Natalie?"
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"Why'd you change your mind?" he asks instead, his hands folding together in the air between his knees.
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"I think that you experienced something that the people around you can't understand," he says. Calm, even-toned - she might respond if he rises to the bait, but she won't respect him. "But I might."
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