Date sent: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 00:18:55 -0400 (EDT) From: LassMulder@aol.com Subject: Fanfic correction Title: Don't Slow Me Down Author: Lass Mulder Rating: PG Classification: SRA Spoilers: Christmas Carol-Emily Keywords: MSR Summary: Mulder goes to check on Scully and tries to help her to relax, only to get her more wound up. Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THEM!! GET OFF MY BACK!! I'm not making any money off of them, I don't pretend they're mine, I give full credit to Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, 10-13 Productions, and anyone else I've missed but had a hand in creating the characters. Satisfied? Once more for those of you who are a little slow: THEY'RE NOT MINE!!! Notes: This story has a spoiler warning, but it does *not* revolve around those two episodes. It's only mentioned once, actually. It's just an excuse for Mulder to go and check on Scully. OK? Good, all's clear, you can start reading now!! No, wait, you can't, I have one other thing to mention... Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to, first off, Debbie, or "Mom" as we LGM affectionately call her. Thanks, Deb, for getting those autographs and that CD ROM for me! I'm eternally grateful!! Also, I'd like to say thank-you to Erica, a fellow LGM member, who has given me some of the most constructive feedack ever. (Plus, she really boosts my confidence a lot of the time--she shows me people actually read my stories!!) This dedication is also shared with my real Mom, who will probably never see this dedication, but, oh, well. Thanks for putting up with all the X-Files gibberish I spout at the TV whenever something XFish is on. And last, but definitely not least, Mark Snow, who's scores from the last five season five episodes and all the music on his Movie CD put me in the writing mood. (But his score for Chinga also showed me even geniuses have "off" days.) So, thanks, you guys! Part 1/5 "Don't Slow Me Down" by Lass Mulder There was a knock on Scully's apartment door. She paused, half-way through a sit-up. She maintained her position, waiting, holding her breath as her stomach muscles strained. Two more knocks. It was him. Scully sat the rest of the way up and walked over to her door, pushing hair from her face. She unlatched and unlocked the door and swung it open to reveal her partner, as she had expected. Mulder's eyes quickly flicked up and down Scully's body, from her gray sports bra to her bare stomach to her short, purple, boxer-like shorts that exposed quite a lot of leg, and back up. It was an extremely quick glance, but Scully caught it, and when he got back up to her eyes, she was glaring at him like she could reduce him to a puddle of green ooze in her hallway. "What do you want, Mulder?" Scully asked, still blocking his entrance to her apartment. Mulder looked at her face for another moment before replying. "Scully, I know this is hard for you. I came to check on you; see how you're doing. Can I come in?" Scully stepped aside and walked away from Mulder, leaving him to shut and lock the door by himself. She stood in the middle of the room, facing away from him, one hand on her hip, the other on her forehead. "I'm fine, Mulder. You don't need to be here to offer emotional support." "Scully, you're not fine. You were just introduced to a daughter you didn't know you had, and then she dies a short time later of an unknown disease that's possible related to your abduction, too... That's a lot of information to handle right now. It's normal to be feeling upset. If you felt fine you'd be abnormal." "Are you saying I'm abnormal?" Scully asked tiredly, not moving. "No. Because I know you *are* upset. You just refuse to show it." Pause. "What were you doing before I got here?" "Working out. Doing sit-ups. I got to 347 before you knocked on the door. I was planning on trying to reach 500 in one sitting," she said dryly, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table. "I was trying to work off some of this energy. But I think I'm just making myself tired and tense instead." Mulder walked over and sat down on the couch across from Scully. "Maybe you were going about it the wrong way. Instead of tiring yourself out, you should relax. Let the stress go, instead of trying to work with it." "I can't relax, Mulder. I've tried it already. Relaxing never works. I'm physically unable to do it." "Let *me* try then... I bet I can relax you. OK?" Mulder bent his head to try to look at Scully's face, or see her eyes, but her head was down too low. "Fine." Scully sighed and lifted her head. "Where to?" End Part 1/5 ============= Part 2/5 "Don't Slow Me Down" by Lass Mulder "Here, Scully. Lay down and drink this." Mulder smoothed out the thick blanket he had put on Scully's living room floor and handed her a mug as she knelt down next to him. "What's this?" Scully asked, sniffing the hot liquid. It smelled like... "Apple and cinnamon tea. I looked through what you had in your cupboards, and this seemed good." Scully sipped the tea. "Mmmm. Good. Are you having some?" Mulder shook his head and motioned to the blanket. "Face down or face up?" Scully asked. "Face... up." Scully lay down on the blanket, placing the mug an arm's length away from her on the steady, flat surface of her floor, after having one more drink. She stretched out on her back and crossed her arms over her chest and crossed her legs, looking at Mulder doubtfully. "Scully, uncross your legs. You can't relax like that," Mulder said, reaching down and uncrossing her legs. She tried to keep them pinned together, but Mulder eventually convinced her to leave her legs a little over 2 feet apart at her ankles. Scully was starting to doubt this was going to relax her. In fact, this was making her more tense. She didn't like having her legs open like that. she thought, trying to convince herself. "Now the arms," Mulder said. Scully uncrossed them and moved her hands down to cover her still-bare stomach. she asked herself. Mulder gave her a disapproving glance and she sighed, rolled her eyes, and put her arms down at her sides. "Good. Next, close your eyes." Scully watched him for a full minute, not moving, not speaking. Finally Mulder broke the silence. "Do you trust me?" Scully's eyes darted away from Mulder's in an attempt to process her thoughts. "Yes," she said, somewhat hesitantly. She'd never told him that to his face before. "OK. Good. Close your eyes." Scully sighed and obeyed. Mulder looked around the room... He needed a tool. Scully was already jumpy and very wary of him and his intentions. Mulder thought that if he started out with his bare hands it wouldn't help matters any. His eyes fell on a dull pencil sitting on the nearby coffee table. Picking it up, he said, "Keep your eyes closed. This is just a pencil." Very lightly, very slowly, Mulder dragged the pencil across Scully's arms. Down and up, across her shoulders to her other arm, down and up. Mulder thought he visibly saw Scully let go. Her shoulders didn't scrunch up at her neck anymore, her hands weren't gripping the blanket, her feet weren't pointed, and her forehead wasn't creased. "See, you're relaxing..." Mulder said softly. Scully smiled faintly in reply. Mulder moved the pencil from Scully's arms up her neck to her face. Up one side of her jaw, across her cheek, across her nose and back down the other side of her jaw. Back up, over her chin, over her mouth, along her nose, up between her eyes, and then back down along her hairline. All over her face, barely touching; lightly tickling. Scully was totally relaxed. She didn't think she could move if the building caught on fire. She was completely drained, and loving every minute of it. She mentally followed the pencil eraser as it dipped behind her ear, and down to play on her neck. she thought, Mulder watched Scully's face as her brow creased, and a worried look came over her closed features. "Scully..." "Hmm?" Brow still creased, eyes still closed. "What's wrong? Why did you get that worried look on your forehead?" Mulder asked, not stopping the pencil, but keeping it away from his partner's mouth so she could talk. "Ummm... Where did you learn this, Mulder? This pencil-massage-thing?" Mulder smiled. "Well, when I was little, like, 5 or 6, when I couldn't get to sleep very easily, Mom would do this to me with her index finger. She called it "Sensue-Baby". I'm not sure why. But it always put me to sleep." "If your mom always did it with her finger, why are you using a pencil?" Scully asked quietly, somewhat aggravated at herself that she had asked the question. "I wasn't sure you would want me to use my finger. So I started with a pencil." Mulder set the pencil to one side and gently placed his right index finger on Scully's cheek. "But I can do it this way if you want." His finger traced the paths the pencil had on her face, over her cheek bones, over her eyes, across her nose and just below her hair line. Then his finger dropped down to her mouth. Before, with the pencil, he had avoided the area, but now he ran his finger lightly over her bottom lip, eliciting a sigh from Scully. Mulder mentally reprimanded himself. Mulder decided her face had had enough attention, so he moved his finger down her neck and back along her shoulder. There was no way he could get to her stomach without passing over that sports bra, and he was sure that wouldn't be good, so he picked his finger up and relocated it to a spot just above her belly-button. Scully's sharp intake of breath told him he should have warned her. "Sorry. Does this bother you?" Mulder asked, his finger trailing in large figure-eights over her stomach. "Mmmm... No. Keep doing that," Scully sighed, her eyes remaining closed. Mulder's mind was shutting down. All rational thought was quickly fleeing his brain, and all he could think about was seducing Scully. End Part 2/5 ============= Part 3/5 "Don't Slow Me Down" by Lass Mulder Scully's mind had long since shut down. She was completely involved and focused on the tip of Mulder's index finger. After completing many figure- eights across Scully's stomach, The Finger (Scully now capitalized it in her head) had started moving up and down from the waistband of her shorts to the bottom of her sports bra. Up. Down. Up. The Finger was halfway across her stomach, and was right at the point that made her shiver unconsciously. There was nothing she could do to stop it. That was just her only ticklish spot. Suddenly The Finger disappeared. Scully frowned and made a questioning sound. She couldn't remember exactly why she had to keep her eyes closed, but she figured it was important- The Finger had just been replaced with a mouth. Scully decided it suddenly wasn't so important to keep her eyes closed and to stay still. She rolled away from Mulder and sat up, crawling up onto the sofa. Watching him. Mulder sat cross-legged on the floor, his mouth open, his eyes confused. "What was that." It was a question, but the tone of her voice made it seem like a statement. Mulder mentally shook himself, closing his eyes for a split-second. Standing up, he walked around the coffee table to sit at the opposite end of the couch. "Scully, I'm sorry. I... I don't know why I did that." Scully looked at her partner, sitting across from her in her living room. The partner who had just kissed her stomach. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have gone along with the relaxing thing. It was a stupid thing to do. Let's forget it." Scully sighed and stood up, walking towards the kitchen. "You enjoyed it." The voice was flat, low, matter-of-fact. And it spoke the truth. Scully froze. Without turning around she said, "Yes, I did." End Part 3/5 ============= Part 4/5 "Don't Slow Me Down" by Lass Mulder Scully froze. Without turning around she said, "Yes, I did." She turned around and looked at Mulder. "Why did you have to do that? Why couldn't you have left it at relaxing instead of..." She trailed off, touching her fingers to the spot of her stomach where he had kissed her. "I'm sorry, Scully. I wish I could take back that..." "But I can't; it already happened. Now, I know I was out of line with that, and I promise you, it won't happen again. But... Before I did that... you were relaxed, weren't you? It worked." Scully nodded warily, sensing what he was about to say. "Scully, come back over here and lay down again." "No, Mulder," Scully said quickly, taking a step back. She was silent for a moment before adding, "Try any of that tailhook crap on me, Mulder, and I'll kick your ass." Mulder gave one of his smirks. "I'm not scared of you." Scully walked back over to the blanket, but didn't sit down, not willing to commit to anything. "You're not scared of me?" At Mulder's negative shake of the head, she sat down. "Well, that's not fair..." she mumbled quietly to herself. "What's not fair? Are *you* scared of *me*?" Mulder asked, surprised. "You weren't supposed to hear that," Scully said, not looking at him. "Listen, I'll lay down again on one condition: I get to lay face down this time." "Sounds fair." Scully lay back down again. She once again thought of her tea, sitting on the floor a few feet from her, but she knew it would be stone cold by now. She had no idea of the time--it had kind of disappeared. She wondered in the back of her mind how long Mulder had been with her. "Close your eyes again," Mulder said, sitting cross-legged beside Scully again. When she hesitated, he continued, "You said earlier you trusted me. Has that changed?" As an answer, Scully closed her eyes. Mulder decided the one finger approach to the situation would still work, so he began again, working his way across her back. "I had almost forgotten you had this," he said, tracing the circle of the red serpent tattoo on Scully's lower back. "Yeah... I try to forget I have it, too," she admitted. Mulder continued circling around the tattoo until Scully spoke up again. "Mulder, can you concentrate on something else, instead of the snake?" "Sure. I'll write a word on your back, and you tell me what it is. It'll be a question, OK? And I'll tap your shoulder after the end of each word." "OK." Scully closed her eyes again. Mulder started writing. When the first word was done, Scully said, "Are." "Mmm-hmm. Next word." "You." Pause. "Can you do that one again? I didn't get the last part.... Oh, 'feeling', right?" "Yes." "...more... relaxed... now?" Scully smiled. "Yes, I am. Thanks." Mulder spelled out, "NO PROBLEM". Scully didn't say the words along with Mulder's hands with the next phrase. That way was harder, and she asked him to repeat some words a few times. But at the end of it, she said, "I think I got it. 'I WANT TO SAY I'M SORRY AGAIN. DO YOU ACCEPT MY APOLOGY?' And in response, yes, I do." Mulder started spelling again, but this time Scully said the words along with him. "D, O, do. Y, O, U, you. W, A, N, T, want. M, E, me. T, O, to. M, A, K, E, make..." Mulder paused. Scully wondered if she'd gotten it right. "Do you want me to make...?" Mulder started writing again, and Scully fell silent, putting the words together in her head. "I don't think I heard you right," Scully said quietly. "I think you did," Mulder answered. "Mulder, thank-you. I'm very relaxed," Scully said anxiously, trying to sit up. "Why don't we-" "You're still tense," Mulder stated, pushing Scully back to the floor, where he held her there, his hands pressing down on her upper back. "You're the one making me tense!" Scully said, suddenly very loud. "So you *did* understand my question." "No, I didn't understand it, and I think you imagined you asked it anyway," Scully said, pushing herself up again and walking away. End Part 4/5 ============= Part 5/5 "Don't Slow Me Down" by Lass Mulder Scully walked into her bedroom and Mulder heard the door click shut. She went to her bed and sat down, exhaling forcefully. "God damn you, Mulder..." she whispered. Meanwhile, Mulder was sitting on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table and his head lolling back on the cushions. Eyes closed. "God damn it." Scully walked back out of her bedroom, clothed in jeans and a sweatshirt. She went over to Mulder's side, standing in between the couch and table, and gave his outstretched legs a kick. "Mulder." "Yes?" he asked, looking up at her. She had a "don't-mess-with-me-or- you'll-loose-a-body-part" look on her face. "I don't think I understood what you asked me a moment ago. Repeat it for me. Out loud. Say it." Scully's eyes didn't move from Mulder's. Mulder waited a few seconds, staring at his extremely serious partner. "I asked... if you wanted me to make love to you." Scully kept her stern, almost angry expression on her face as she uncrossed her arms and ordered, "Give me one of your hands." Mulder gave her his right hand and she turned it over so his palm was facing up. Using her index finger she spelled, YES, and interlaced her fingers with his. End Part 5/5 ============= Bad? Good? You fell asleep? You fell off your chair? Tell me!! Constructive criticism wanted. I'm not sure if this should have more parts to it... I don't know. Tell me if you want a Part 6!! LassMulder@aol.com =============