From: SMurphy Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 00:30:33 GMT Subject: NEW "Home Run" (1/2) By Sharon Harkins-Murphy Home Run (1/2) By Sharon Harkins-Murphy Category: V, MSR Rating: PG Spoilers: The Unnatural, One Breath Archive: I'll take of that.... http://www.angelfire.com/nj/shmfanfic/index.html..please ask first if you want to archive it... Summary: The baseball scene in The Unnatural after the ep ends Author's Note: After seeing the pics from the satellite feed I had to take a stab at it. Feedback is nice....queequeg@fox.nji.com Disclaimer: Surprise, I don't own Mulder or Scully....though what I would pay to own Mulder... Thank yous: Paula Graves for telling me this didn't suck and David Duchovny for writing a wonderful episode. Scully felt like a kid again. She had remembered what it was like to watch baseball from a distance. The warm Saturday afternoons sitting in the park watching the kaleidoscope of uniforms create their patterns on the field. She was fascinated by their precision to get exactly what they wanted from a play through Marx Brothers-like gestures. The accuracy of the game was similar to a human version of pool. Players could almost call out where the ball was going to go. All the years she had watched Bill play little league had made her want to play. But mom did not want her to be a tomboy. She was to act like a young lady. Now she had a chance to change all of that. This was her second childhood she thought, as she laughed with each swing of the bat. She was trying hard as if to show Bill that she could play the game. The sweetness of childhood revenge never dies. Here she was in her suit on a Saturday night, taking batting lessons from her partner. "Why are you laughing?" he whispered in her ear as if not to let anyone else hear. She stopped herself for a moment and realized what she was doing. When was the last time she laughed? Okay, earlier that morning was no more than a giggle, she reasoned. A smile grew across her face. "Nothing." "Nothing's got to be something," Mulder said, his voice teasing her memories. "I was just thinking." Scully distracted Mulder enough to take another swing. Straight to left field. "Whoa. That's a double. Thinking about what?" "Wanting to play baseball." "You never played baseball?" She looked at him from the corner of her eye and could see the shocked look on his face. What did he actually think of her? Just because she was a doctor and highly educated did not automatically make her know baseball. She knew Mulder had heard the story of her shooting the snake from her mother, but that was without Scully having a chance to explain herself. When mom was around she had to be the proper young lady. Now it did not matter to her. "No, I never got to. I'm glad you're teaching me." "Learning from the best." "The best?" "Oh yeah, Scully I was a player in my time." "What position?" "Right field." "Sounds more like bench warmer?" "I did that too. I warmed the best of them." Scully's laugh distracted her from missing the next pitch, almost hitting her in the head. She ducked, thinking of a new phrase to add to her baseball knowledge. Head before hips. "I'm sorry," she said, apologizing as she looked over for the ball. "Don't be," he said, releasing his hands from the bat. "Actually let me teach you some of the other things of baseball." She stood there and watched him tell the ball boy to go take a five minute break. "We're not going to hit anymore?" "Later. Scully, by the end of tonight you're going to break someone's window." "What?!" "It's tradition," he said with a smile. "Great." Scully watched the kid leave and then came back over to her. He had the look of a child on Christmas and for a moment she thought he was having more fun with this than she was. "And afterwards, I'll buy you a Tofutti rice dreamsicle." Scully smiled. "But first," he said, with anticipation. "I'm going to teach you how to run bases and slide." She looked down at her outfit and saw the impracticality of it. There was no way she was going to run bases in an outfit like this. "Slide? Mulder, look at this?" "So?" "I could ruin this." "Who cares?" Mulder asked grabbing her arm and bringing her to first base. "This is first base." "This?" "Do I suspect some Abbott and Costello here?" "Actually my father was a fan of them, but no that's not what I was intending." Mulder smiled as he rubbed his hands together. "Okay, we're going to run from here to second base. You see where it is?" "The white lump over there." She watched Mulder's face sink as she said it. What was she supposed to say? He was the one here teaching her the ins and outs of baseball. "So who's running first?" "I thought we'd race." "Race?" "Yeah." "You're serious?" "Scully I have seen you run in heels. You can do this." With a deep breath she looked at the line. Her mind calculated the way she would have to turn and get to the base on time. She knew her languid partner would be the first one there, but she would be damned if she was going to let him do it without a fight from her. "On three. One....Two....Three!" The two of them took off down the stretch. Her suit was a distraction to her. Mulder was right, she had run in heels many times before. For a moment the two of them ran in sync together, their height being the only thing distinguishing them. Scully could feel her mind focus on the white line as she leaped past Mulder and touched second base within a second of her partner. "This is easy, Mulder," she said, trying to catch her breath. "Easy, g-woman? I'm surprised you've never done this." "Sorry I never have." "When do we try third base?" "Scully, are you trying to seduce me?" "Mulder!" "I bet you knew that game as a teenager." Scully was not going to answer that one. Not even with a ten foot pole. Continued in Part 2 Home Run (2/2) By Sharon Harkins-Murphy All Notes in Part One ******************* Scully was now up for the challenge. She had beaten Mulder at one base, she was more than ready for the next one. Looking at her partner, she knew that she had an advantage. "What if I give you a head start?" "What?" "You heard me, Mulder. Since you had a bit of trouble beating me to second..." "I didn't have that much of a problem." "But you will with the next one." Mulder looked at her with a false sense of composure. She could read right through it. The advantage was hers for the taking, all she had to do was grab it. "Last one there is a rotten egg," she yelled, taking off for third base. Her laugh had caught Mulder off guard and he heard him curse under his breathe. In the distance she could hear him panting with exhaustion, not quite ready for the next round until he felt ready. She got to the base with little ease, showing it further by dusting off her suit which was still flawless. Mulder on the other hand was not doing as well. Not that he had a problem with it, but the look in his eyes clearly stated to her that revenge was eminent. "Mulder, you're supposed to be teaching me. I'm supposed to be learning from you." "Okay, student, then I am going to teach you something." "What?" "How to slide." "You want me to slide?" "Yes," Mulder said, his eyes casting a gaze on her that she had rarely ever seen. It only caused her to want to laugh. "How?" "I'll show you." As Mulder stood next to her, she could smell the sweat from his shirt. It was interesting to note how he was sweating over all for this and she was not. Her mind knew she could beat him at this. "What you want to do is gave up all of your energy and run as fast as you can. When you get to the end of the line, drop to either side and let the motion just take you across home plate." "Well there goes my suit." "But Scully, it's fun. Watch." He took off and at where he calculated the landing he slide on his left side, right across the base. As the dust cleared, Mulder got up and brushed himself off. He looks like Pigpen, Scully thought. It looked so much better to watch him do it and not try it. She was seriously going to hurt herself by doing it. "Your turn." "Mulder." The smile he gave her was enough to taunt her. If she could wipe that grin off his face she would make him pay for that. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the line and how far she would have to go. There went her mental math again trying to determine the best time to land her butt on the dirt and hope that she could actually slide across the base. Thank God she was not wearing a skirt, Mulder would enjoy it too much. Taking a deep breath, she counted to three. She ran faster than she had before, but before she knew it she had passed the line and tried to drop and slide within inches of the base. All she could concentrate on was the base. It was all for the base and whether or not she could get herself across it. Of course she forgot that her partner was still dusting himself off. Scully slid into home and took Mulder with her. The dust across home plate engulfed them, so for a moment she was not sure what part of Mulder had landed on her. She felt a slight pain in her left leg and arm. There was no way she was going to move for the next few minutes. Her eyes were closed to the dust, yet she could fell Mulder's hand on her face. He must be just as blind, she thought. "Mulder?" she coughed. "You forgot the line," he gasped. "I'm sorry." Scully opened her eyes to see him looking right at her, biting his lower lip. She was going to pay for this one, she thought. "I guess you could say this is a home run." Pushing him off her, she stood up to assess the damage. Mulder looked as if he had the wind knocked out of him, but otherwise looked fine Brushing her outfit off, she noted there was a tear in the left leg, right up the seam. The pain in her arm was greater than her left leg, but she knew that it would be worse in the morning. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine Mulder," she said, her winced expression turned away from him. "You don't sound it." She felt his arms reach around her to turn her around. "Mulder, I'm fine." "Where's the boo-boo?" She rolled her eyes at him. Not only was he willing to play a sport with her but he was willing to play it like a child. Literally. Scully held out her left arm to him, matter of factly. Holding her arm, Mulder examined it for further damage. "Where exactly?" "The elbow." He turned her arm over to rub at it. She winced in pain, feeling it sear its way up her arm and to her eyes. "Sorry. You might have bruised it that's all." Scully pulled her arm back to examine it again. Who is the doctor here, Mulder, she thought. She walked over to the bench and sat down. All of this had been as a present to her and now her own logic had caused her injury. Surely Mulder would be the one willing to take the blame on this one, but she knew. Her sense of defeat and loss all for competitiveness to beat Mulder. Never was she able to have fun with something for the enjoyment of it. It was all for a goal, to prove something to someone else or herself. The pettiest of them had now left her with a bruised elbow that hurt her to bend. "Guess tonight is over." "Mulder," she said, her voice knowing that it would be Mulder who would be playing the fall guy. "I am the one who misjudged." "I was in the way." "I had already landed wrong. I didn't slide, I dropped." "Still you made one hell of a home run." "Not bad." "In heels and a suit with partial damage, I think that is pretty damn good." She smiled. He always knew how to get her on these things. In the distance they heard footsteps. "Are you okay, lady?" It was the ball boy. "I'm fine, thanks." "You're not going to play anymore?" Mulder shook his head. "It doesn't look like it." According to Scully this evening was not over. "I'll do one more." There was no way she was going to be the one ending this on a low note. If he had done all of this for her then she was going to show him that she had learned from him. "Scully maybe we should call it a night. I'll still buy you the dreamsicle." She grabbed the bat and made her way to the plate. Carefully, she checked the position of her hands to make sure they were as Mulder had taught her. The ball boy reached the pitcher's mound and put in a ball. Never had Scully felt more of a passion to complete something so trivial. Everything in life came down to not giving up until the task was done, even with baseball. "I'm going to hit it," she said, turning to look at him behind the fence. "by myself." Positioning herself, she set herself up for the hit. Forget the logic and the math, she told herself Just let it all go. "Ready." As the ball came towards her she closed her eyes and remembered one thing. "Hips before hands." The crack of the bat awakened her as the force of her swing brought her to see the ball soaring. The farther it went the more she realized it. Scully had hit a home run. "Yes!" Mulder yelled, banging his fists on the fence. Dropping the bat, she took off to run each of the bases, just like Mulder told her. Hit first base, then second, making sure she touched each one. Coming around third, she did not need to make the slide. She was already home. At home plate Mulder stood there, his arms open. Scully ran into them, hitting home plate in the process. As he held her, she realized that this had been the best early birthday or late birthday present ever. "You did it!" "Well I had a great coach." Mulder smiled. "I think, with the fact that you were the one to hit home plate all by yourself, you get to buy the ice cream." "What? Mulder I thought this was to be an early or late birthday present." "It is. This is," Mulder said, his voice cracking in explanation. "Now I know why you don't get dates," she said, walking toward her car. "I resent that, Scully." She was tired of his arguments. All she wanted to do was get in the car, get the ice cream and then change into something that did not look so easily ruined. "Mulder, shut up and get in the car." *********************************************************** Okay I will do more if asked...though I have another series in the works....