From: "Leslie Cummings" Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 14:06:08 +0000 Subject: No Subject Provided Source: revision Title: I Don't Want Sap Author: Barenaked Bostonian Disclaimer: Hmmm, maybe if I owed these characters I could get a real manicure.... and oh the things I would do to Mulder...... and Scully..... Distribution: I would like to thank the little people.... wait, what? Oh, yeah, sure, fine, whatever. Feedback: DO IT! DO IT! (That was a dare, so you have to. Or you have to do whatever I say....) Category: MSR, H Spoilers: Memento Mori, Milagro, Duane Barry, Ascension (Just a little, I promise!) Summary: Maybe Scully is having insomnia. And maybe Mulder can help. Mulder, helping? Is it possible? Now it is! Thanks: To Amanda, whose house I am at right now in the middle of a killer thunderstorm. But to everyone else as well. Such as Lesley, Aiah, Sam and Ash, who keep tabs on my fan fic. ********************************************************************** It was the usual day in the X-Files office. Scully was busy doing expense reports, and Mulder, being the typical Mulder, was trying to draw an alien with lines and dots on his computer. He was not having much success. So he then tried to draw Assistant Director Skinner on the computer, again without success. How hard could it be? All you had to do was draw an egg with glasses! Scully sighed and readjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose. She stared down at her paper and the words began to blur. Mulder looked over at her with a high level of compassion. He really should be helping her with them. He really should be, but they were just *so* boring! He couldn't stand to do them, and when he did he usually messed them up and Scully got royally pissed at him. So, during these times, he usually just sat back and *pretended* he was working. And usually he got away with it. "Hey Scully?" he asked cautiously. It took her a moment to respond, she wanted to finish up the figure that she was working at. "Yes Mulder?" she replied, glancing up quickly and then back at the paper. She did this *partially* because she really wanted to finish the reports before the weekend, and partially because he was staring intently at her. "I'm going out for some lunch, you want to come?" "Ah...." she paused and continued writing, "We really should finish these up. I mean....... it is the weekend tomorrow." She gave him a look over her glasses. "Aw, come on Scully. We'll be back in an hour. I promise." She sighed heavily and looked at him over her glasses again. She pursed her lips and shook her head slightly. "Alright, alright. I'll go have lunch with you. But when we get back, *you* will get to work!" "Why, Agent Scully! How can you accuse me of slacking off? I have been working very hard these past..." He glanced at his watch. "Two hours and twenty-three minutes!" "Really?" She said, turning his laptop around with a quick flick. They looked at each other for a moment. Then they both said, "Skinner." very blatantly. The two agents got into Mulder's car and drove to a nearby restaurant. Once at a booth near the back, the two sat in companionable silence. It was very dimly lit place and the memorabilia on the walls were hidden in shadows. She could hear the sound of the baseball game, playing on the television above the bar, and it sounded like the Red Sox were beating the Yankees. Mulder wouldn't be happy. He didn't seem to notice what was going on. Not that it mattered. He was just staring at Scully, and attempting to profile her for the upteenth time. Not that he had to. Most likely he could just ask her and she would tell him. Sometime after she had almost gotten her heart ripped out of her chest, their perspectives of each other had changed. He was more appreciative of her, more protective, but less outward about it. She had become more open with her feelings, since she had surged into his arms and he had taken care of her when she said that she didn't want to go to the hospital. She trusted Mulder. Not only with her life now, but with a certain part of her heart that she thought she had tucked away for good. He now trusted her with more of his past and the feelings that he had kept bottled up over the years. Both agreed that it was much more practical that a psychiatrist. He sat on the other side of the booth, sipping his iced tea in silence. There was so much that he wanted to ask her, to tell her, to discover. But he settled for being in close proximity and being able to watch her. He smiled slightly, and took another sip. She looked over to him, her own iced tea untouched. He was a bit worried, she was very quiet today. He was hoping that they could finish the conversation that they had started last night over dinner. It was at her place, and she had cooked, and she was telling him what she loved the most about her family. It was comforting to hear her talk about her past, and about the people who loved her. He wondered what she sounded like when she talked about him. "Scully? Something wrong?" He asked. "You haven't touched your tea." "Oh. Oh yeah. Everything is.... alright." She had vowed to herself to stop using the word 'fine' because he had told he a little bit back, that it worried him. "Okay then. If you want to talk about it..." "I can't sleep Mulder." She blurted out. "Ever since that night when I slept with you in your bed. I can't sleep." "Why?" he asked her. "Was it me? Did I do something? I didn't do something in the middle of the night, did I? Because if I did Scully, I swear, I didn't-" She cut him off. "I can't sleep without you." She blurted out again, this time in a hushed whisper. "Oh." he said very plainly. "Then I guess I'll come over tonight then?" "That would be nice." she said with a smile. "And very partnerly." The truth was that she was too scared to be alone that night. It had felt nice to finally let someone that she was frightened, and it was even better that he hadn't judged her on it. He had layed with her that night. Clinging to her tightly as she cried herself to sleep. And since then, they had dinner together often, they went out to movies and hung out at each others apartments. They had become more friends than friends. And even though neither of them had admitted it, they loved each other. More than love, more than hate, more than life, but they knew that they were somehow meant to be together. He was in love with her. He had been, he thought, since that night on Skyland Mountain. Since she had been taken and it finally dawned on his time numbed brain, that he could not continue without her. That is crusade was meaningless without someone to share it with. Without someone to call up at all hours and annoy. Without someone to yell at and touch. Without someone to have on speed dial, without the 'Mulder, it's me.', when healready knew it was her. She was in love with him. She had been, she thought, since he had showed up at the hospital after she had woken from her coma. She had never seen a smile so full of hope and sincerity in all of her life. Never saw so much emotion in someone's eyes. It wasn't worth the risks, they both had thought. To be together, was to put each other in danger. She knew that he would give up the X-Files willingly for her, he knew it as well. But he, as well as she knew, that she would never ask her to do that. That it was now her quest too. The files were as much a part of her as they were a part of him. Scully ate her soup and salad and Mulder ate his steak. He watched her as she sipped the french onion soup, and watched as her mouth worked to mash up the salad, the salad with low fat ranch dressing. She, had not eaten breakfast, ate her meal entirely. It was good to see her like that, much better than the days of her cancer. He remebered when she used to order food, and would move it around on her plate to make it look like she had eaten. He knew that it would upset her stomach, but if she didn't eat, she would lose even more weight, and she couldn't stand to lose any more weight. He remembered the night that she was too nauseaus to get up out of bed and she had called him out of final desperation. He had force fed her soup and crackers that she threw up. And when she did, her held her hair and put her to bed. He chewed his own food, swallowing in abscence. And as soon as it had started, lunch had ended. Leaving the check with the money and the tips on the table, they walked back out into the cool D.C. breeze and walked back to their car. Their stomachs as well as their hearts content. But like their stomachs, their hearts could become sick and upset and empty, only to be nourished again. Only by each other. They finally got back to the office, and as part of their previous deal, Mulder had to finish up some work. He did as he was told. He was finished with the reports in time for them to leave work. She was a little ahead of him, but he grabbed his coats in time to see the doors of the elevator being to close. "Scully, come here!" he said to her. She grabbed the doors and squeezed through. "What time should I be there?" he asked. "Um, whenever, I just want to take a shower first." "Oooh, Scully. That sounds like fun, mind if I join you?" he said, jokingly. "No thank you Mulder. I think that I can handle myself in the shower. Bring pizza?" She asked. "Sure " he said " Oh, shit. I didn't lock the door." He ran back to lock the door, just in time to see her step into the elevator. "Scully!" he called again. "Yes?" She pushed the button for the doors to close. "Would you ever be attracted to me?" he said, as a grin broke out on her face. The doors began to close. "Bye Mulder." she said through her teeth. Once the doors were closed, she laughed in spite of herself. "Of course, Mulder. Of course." He arrived at her house promptly at six thirty, just as she was toweling off her hair. He let himself in, taking the risk that she might still be in the shower. Lucky for him, she wasn't, so he didn't have to feel awkward. She smiled and took the pizza box and the bag of movies out of his hands. He opened the pizza and got two plates out of the cabinet. He got himself and Scully a slice, when she went into her room to put her towel away. She came back and sat beside him on the couch. She brought the videos in and placed the bag on the table. After taking a quick bite, she dumped the bag out on the table. "Urban Legend? Halloween? Mulder, why the horror?" "Aw, Scully, I thought you might get scared and let me put my arm around you." "Ohhhhh, I see, mooch off the movies." She laughed as he put his arm around her shoulders. She settled into his side as the movie played on the television. As the first movie ended and the killer was revealed, he got up to put the new movie in. Scully, in a sleepy haze, groaned as his body left hers. The movie began to delve into a tale of urban legends and murder. "Scully, maybe you should go to sleep." "Uh, uh. Come here." she said and moved to accomodate his body again. "That better Scully?" "Uh huh." "So Scully, you gonna fall asleep on me here?" "I don't want it to be sappy Mulder." "Huh?" "When we're together, I don't want it to be sappy." "Oh." "When I tell you that I love you I don't want it to be sappy." "Oh, okay." "And I'm in love with you, and the pizza." she giggled. "Okay then, I officially declare that this moment is not sappy, and in doing so I will also tell you that I love you. And I'm in love with you, but I'm not so crazy about the pizza." They both looked at each other and laughed. "Okay." she said. "Kay." "Good." "Excellent." "Superb." "You are." he said very seriously, staring into her eyes. "Okay, that was sappy." "Indeed it was." "'Night, Mulder." "Night Scully." And neither of them found out that the killer was Natalie's best friend. LA FIN Speaking of french, that stupid bitch Amara gave me a B+! Uggggg, I did better that THAT this quarter! ~Love Leslie