From: sadriende@aol.com (Sadriende)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Dinner For One (1/1)
Date: 14 Feb 1996 10:34:47 -0500


Bonjour, Guten Tag, and hiya to all you "out there"!  Yes this is
probably the umpeenth Valentine story you'll read this week.  Oh,
I'm so *horribly* original!:)
These nifty characters belong to that guy with the duplicate Cs for his
initials and all his goofy number production companies, and that
super cool network that wasn't in existence seven years ago. This is
for my ex-boyfriend, whom I should've known was bad news when
he criticized this show.  And to Emily and Owen, Jennie and Jay, and
Sue and Adam -- happy couples all.
It's PG, campers.  Enjoy!

"Why do you spend this time with me
 May be an equal mystery..." -Indigo Girls

Dinner for One

	The clock's ticking seemed to increase with every passing
moment.  It was as if somebody had hooked up an amplifier to the
incessant timepiece that blasted every movement of the hand to sound
like the bang of a gong.  Both Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana
Scully were watching it intently, unbeknownst to either of them.  He
sat at his desk, going through his bottom drawer of files, while she sat
at hers, making notes on one of them.  Neither wanted to be there at
this point.  But, neither of them was going to give the other one an
opportunity to make a crack about what day it was, and *why* the
other one didn't want to be there.
	Finally, having had enough of the boredom this day had
offered the both of them, Mulder shut the drawer with a loud bang. 
It startled his partner, who raised an inquisitive eyebrow in his
direction.  "Let's go home, Scully."
	Her breath caught in her throat before she swallowed quickly,
and choked out "What?"
	"Home.  We haven't gotten anything accomplished all day. 
We've got the time coming, we can come in early tomorrow instead. 
But for now, let's just go home."
	Scully made some more notes on her file, and then looked up,
teasingly.  "What's the matter, Mulder?" she asked, innocently.  "Hot
date?"
	He ignored the comment, and instead rose and walked over to
her desk, perching upon it so he was getting in the way of her work. 
Her eyes traveled upwards and finally met his, staring down at her. 
He sort of smirked at her.  She rolled her eyes in response.  "Get out
of here," she commanded, lightly.  "I'll finish up."
	He considered the option for a moment, then cast another
look at her, his eyes gleaming.  "Not without you," he said, grabbing
her hands and pulling her up from her chair.  "I'm not going to be the
only one abandoning work today.  I won't have that favor from you
on *my* shoulders.  You're leaving, too -- come on."
	She wrenched out of his grasp, and sighed, exasperated. 
"Fine, Mulder.  Just let me put these things away."  Closing the file,
she placed it in one of the drawers, then went for her coat.  Silence
prevailed as the two went about the business of "shutting down the
office" for the day.
	They had locked the door, and were both heading out into the
parking lot.  Neither said anything as they walked out the door into
the brisk February air.  When the time came for them to part
company, the silence was awkward.
	"So...see you tomorrow, Scully."
	"Right.  Good bye, Mulder."
	"Oh and, uh...happy Valentine's Day."
	"Same to you."
***
	Determined not to be alone on this day where it seemed
*everybody* had *somebody*, Mulder had called up an old
acquaintance of his.  She had a degree in Psychology, but also had a
practice, and was making much more money than he ever would.  He
had arranged to pick her up around eight, before heading off to a
Japanese steak house she'd recommended.
	And now, as he sat on the non-cushioned bench, watching
pieces of steak and shrimp being thrown onto a five foot long stove
with ease, he had begun to wish he'd stayed at home like all the other
pathetic losers without significant others.  He shifted in his chair,
wanting the food to be done so that they could eat and get out of
there, and he could go back to his lonesome apartment and revel in
his pathetic loser-ness.
	Not that this woman wasn't beautiful, and intelligent, and
funny.  She was all of those things.  But, she had a gift for gab. 
Maybe it was all those long sessions listening to patient's problems
where she could merely nod and just say she understood.  But, he
doubted whether she'd taken a breath in the last fifteen minutes.
	He glanced back at the food, impatiently.  The chef was now
sprinkling all sorts of spices and sauces onto the dishes that were
taking so long to cook.  However, just as Mulder was about to
mumble some dumb excuse about having to feed his fish, he was
brought back to reality with a loud beeping noise.
	"Oh, that's my pager!" his date responded, pulling the loud
object out of her purse.
	As bored as he was, Mulder managed a weak protest.  "But,
you're not a doctor on-call at a hospital, what do you need one of
those for?"
	The woman was making motions to get up from the table. 
"Oh...I give this number out to my patients, in case they need to talk
about anything.  You know, it being Valentine's Day and all, a lot of
people tend to get lonely and depressed."
	Tell me about it, Mulder thought.
	She had retrieved her coat from the rack close to their seats,
and was in the process of putting it on.  "So sorry about this!  Maybe
we could do it again, sometime, under different circumstances."
	"Yeah.  Right," he muttered.
	"Well, I'll see you later!" she called, flinging her purse over
her shoulder and practically dashing out of the restaurant.
	Mulder watched her leave, then surveyed the steak and shrimp
on his plate.  All of a sudden, he didn't feel hungry.
***
	I should've known, she thought to herself.  How could I have
been so stupid?
	Scully sat at a table close to the door of a fancy restaurant,
dressed to the nines, awaiting the arrival of her date.  They had
agreed to meet at 8 o'clock.  It was now 8:21.
	She mentally hit herself on the head for not seeing how
obvious it was.  Out of nowhere, one of her old colleagues from the
Academy, a friend of Tom Colton's, had called her up and asked her
if she wanted to go to dinner.  As much as she despised Colton, she
was a little lonely, and certainly did not want to spend Valentine's
Day all by herself.  So, she had agreed.  And now she had been stood
up.
	All of a sudden, she realized that she hadn't taken the liberty
of ordering, like some small part of her brain wanted to believe that
her date really was late, or had a legitimate excuse.  But, she knew
that was not the case.  This was payback.  Pure and simple.
	Who cares about him? she thought.  I'm certainly not going to
let this spoil my night.  I can have a good time on Valentine's Day
without a date.  "Waiter!" she called, raising her arm in an attempt to
get his attention.  He was all the way on the other side of the
restaurant.  Just my luck, thought Scully as she leaned over to try and
catch his eye.
	But she didn't.  She caught someone else's.
	Scully straightened quickly, and tried to look nonchalant.  But
it was too late.  She tried to shrink down in her seat, but it was no
good.  Gathering her composure, she looked up and tried to remain
as calm as possible.  "Hello, Colton."
	"Hiya, Dana," the agent said, grinning broadly.  "What's the
matter -- alone on Valentine's Day?" He chuckled and eagerly
awaited the reply.
	"No.  My date is late, that's all.  He should be arriving any
minute." Scully prayed that her voice had remained steady. She
lowered her head, and tried to act cool, when on the inside, she was
so angry and humiliated, she felt like crying.
	"Getting late, Dana,” Colton replied, looking at his watch. 
"Almost 9.  Either he's really, really late or he's-"
	"Hi.  Sorry I'm so late."
	Scully looked up in shock to see Mulder pulling up a chair
across from her.  Colton's mouth dropped open.  She smiled, and
faced her former schoolmate, a new fire in her eyes.  "Why don't you
join us, Colton?"  He shook his head rapidly, and started a hasty
retreat.  Scully's eyes gleamed, as she called after him.  "What's the
matter?  You're not...*spooked* by this, are you?"  However, Colton
had long since left the restaurant, and did not hear the second half of
his former schoolmate's comeback.
	She smiled warmly, as she looked at her partner.  "Thanks,"
she said, shyly.
	"Oh, no problem.  Besides, you don't think I would be able to
eat all this by myself, do you?" Mulder offered her the plate of steak
and shrimp and vegetables.
	"I was in the process of ordering wine," she said, signaling to
a waiter, who saw her this time.  She gave her order, he nodded and
left.
	"I hope you ordered some for me," Mulder said.
	"No, I was just planning on you watching me drink it," she
answered, smiling mischievously.
	The waiter returned, with two glasses of red wine, and an
extra plate.  "In case the lady wants to eat," he explained.
	"No, she's just going to sit here and watch me eat," Mulder
replied, and Scully gave him a swift kick under the table.  He took the
plate, and served his partner.  As he handed it back to her, their
fingers touched.
	"It's cold," she stated.  The opposite of what she was feeling.
	"Well, that's good.  Something we're used to," he responded. 
Though neither of them said it, they both knew eating dinner in a
*formal* restaurant together was the something that both of them
were *not* used to.  But, they were enjoying it as much as the cold
food.
	Mulder cleared his throat, abruptly.  "A toast," he declared,
raising his glass.  "To pathetic losers who have no dates on
Valentine's Day."
	Scully smiled.  "To us," she proclaimed, smiling.
	"Are you implying that *we* are the pathetic losers who have
nobody?" he asked, in mock horror.
	"Yep.  Nobody to send us flowers or candy or write us overly
sappy and profoundly insincere poetry.  Just a couple of losers with
nobody." She smiled, self-depreciatingly.
	"Except each other," he finished, softly.
	She drew in her breath, stunned.  Attempts she made to read
his countenance were futile, though, since he was looking at the
floor.  It looked like he was embarrassed.  She wondered if he was
blushing half as much as she was.
	Looking directly at him, she murmured.  "To us." He nodded,
his eyes still fixed to the floor.  The meaning of those two words had
completely changed.  They both knew it.
	Neither spoke for a moment.  Then, Mulder looked directly at
Scully and raised his glass once again.  "Uh...happy Valentine's Day."
	"Same to you."
	And with that, they clinked glasses.