Date sent: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 00:46:18 -0500 Subject: The Fight by Miranda From: miranda119@juno.com (Miranda K Parsons) Title - The Fight Author - Miranda Category - VH Rating - G Spoilers - None Keywords - Mulder and Scully UST and a little MSR. Just a little! Summary - Scully is angry at guess who. Disclaimer - I know they aren't mine. But I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun. Please don't bother to sue because I have nothing to take. *************************** Scully entered her apartment and threw her bag down on the couch. She shrugged her coat off and let it fall beside her bag, then headed for her bedroom to throw off her clothes and replace them with her most comfortable pajamas. she thought angrily, throwing her suit across the chair and stomping back into her kitchen. Once she had placed the teapot on to boil, she sat down at the table and resumed her fuming. she mentally processed all the names she could think of for her partner. None were positive. Her raging mind was interrupted by the telephone. "Scully." she answered with a sigh. "Hey, Scully." she heard the familiar voice. Her eyes narrowed. "Don't ever call this number again!" she shouted at the receiver. A moment later it rang again. She simply picked it up and slammed it down. When it rang a third time, she pulled the jack out of the wall with a frustrated yell. After drinking her tea, she sighed and tried to push the unpleasant thoughts from her mind. But it was no use. She was angrier at her partner then she had ever been before in the entire span of their five year partnership. She considered calling her mother, and telling her what an absolute jerk she had for a partner, but then remembered she had disconnected her phone. And her mother would probably take Mulder's side anyway. Then she started an e-mail telling AD Skinner that she wanted to be transferred to another department, but she stopped in the middle, realizing that she sent these messages so frequently that he most likely didn't even bother to read them anymore. Restless and agitated, she took to pacing the floor imagining Mulder being inflicted with great pain. Twenty minutes into this activity, there was a timid knock on the door. She stopped in disbelief, her calming rage reappearing with a vengeance. She was absolutely amazed at his nerve. She stomped to the couch and removed her gun from the holster. Throwing open the door, she pointed the gun at his head and yelled. "Go away, Mulder!" He put up his hands, took in her disheveled appearance and flashing eyes, and gulped. But he did not back away. "Scully, I'm not going anywhere until we talk. So if you are really angry enough to spend the rest of your life behind bars, go ahead and pull the trigger." "Don't tempt me." she shot back at him, but lowered the gun. "Make it quick." He resisted the innuendo that immediately popped into his brain, and looked around the hallway. "Here?" "You're not coming in." she crossed her arms over her chest and waited with her lips persed and her eyes unwavering. "Okay, then, I'll say it right here. Scully, I am sorry for embarrassing you and making a fool out of both of us, and I'm sorry that I have such a tendency to be a big jerk when I'm on cases like that....I thought I was right. I was wrong, and I made a bad situation worse." "You certainly did." she offered him nothing, but her voice had lost some of its fire. He was undaunted, and brought out the heavy artillery. The one thing that he knew would soften her. It always worked. It was his secret power over women. The puppy dog eyes. "Scully," he almost whispered. "I can't sleep tonight until I know that you accept my apology and forgive me." She sighed. She avoided the eyes that had already begun to melt her. She rolled her own eyes. How did he do this to her? She gave in to the urge to look at him and was immediately affected by his expression. In it she saw everything. He was an open book to her. So honest. So childlike. So trusting...of her. No one else...but he trusted her implicitly. Try as she might, she could not be angry at this man. At least not for long. Already she was telling herself that she had been tired, that everything was blown out of proportion, and after all, he hadn't really done that much. Not to deserve the treatment she had given him. Somehow, this man had an effect on her that she was powerless to resist. She knew without a doubt she would follow him to the center of hell itself if he asked her to. In fact, she had done so already. Time and time again. And surprisingly, she realized, she had no regrets. She held no grudge. All she held was respect, compassion, and commitment. They were his. She sighed again. "I hate you." she told him, but the hostility was completely absent from her voice. "No, you don't." he moved toward her with his lopsided grin that she had come to adore. She backed away from him, and he entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. "You love me, Scully, admit it." he teased. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth, and she hit his arm. "No, I don't. You're the one who's in love." "With you?" his eyebrows rose as his eyes searched hers in their curious, probing way. When had their conversation taken this turn? Hadn't she been holding a gun to his head just a minute ago? They stood in the doorway, considering each other almost shyly. All it had taken was *that* word to turn them into completely strange territory. Why was this coming up now? they had been so careful to avoid it for so long. Sure, they cared about each other more than life itself, sure they would not hesitate to throw their own life away to save the other, sure they had a spark between them that had prompted more than one poll among the other agents in the FBI Building. But they had always managed to avoid *the* topic. Mulder's eyes traveled to her full lips. "Scully, I didn't just come to apologize.." he spoke in a distracted voice. "I just got a call about some strange UFO sightings in..." "Of course you did." she sighed with a chuckle. His eyes remained focused intently on her face...her lips. He couldn't count how many times he'd been tempted to lean over and brush that beautiful mouth with his own. And right now, he knew it was almost inevitable. He was about to kiss her. Anyway, it was perfect timing. She was already mad, how could it possibly make anything worse? And as for the *topic*? Mulder thought to himself. Scully saw him look at her mouth, and her heart raced. She knew the thought that was entering his mind. Would he really do it? Would she let him? And what in the world was it going to mean for their partnership...their friendship? Not to mention the walls they both had built around themselves for protection...She knew the typical male response would be to kiss and never mention it. Would Mulder take that route? Would she be able to resign to that? But, oh, how many times had she looked upon that mouth, that bottom lip that stuck out just like a little boy when he was deep in thought....like now....how many times had she imagined, if just for a moment, what it would be like to touch those lips with her own....Suddenly, she pushed all the doubting thoughts, the warning signals, the fears... all far from her mind. She was going to let him kiss her, and she was going to kiss him back. Then he moved his head closer to hers and, taking aim to those familiar lips he had thought about kissing a thousand times over, he closed his eyes, waiting for the sensation of her warm mouth against his own. She tilted her head back, closing her own eyes and anticipating the first kiss they would ever share. She could feel his hot breath on her mouth. She felt lightheaded. This was it. Suddenly, the gun that she was holding slipped from her hand and fell with a loud crash to the floor. It went off, and Mulder let out a yell. She opened her eyes, and saw him on the ground, holding his foot. The blood was already seeping through his sock and shoe. She sighed, and ran to get some towels to stop the bleeding until she could get him to the hospital. There would be no kiss tonight.