From: ScullyK8@aol.com Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 11:23:09 EDT Subject: Late Lunch Source: direct Title: Late Lunch Author: Kate G. Rating: G Classification: UST, a little Angst Summary: Scully thinks about her relationship with Mulder on the way to meeting him for lunch. What does Fate and Iced Tea hold for our Agents? It takes place during the time frame of Milagro/The Unnatural... when things were good for our favorite Special Agents. This story happens before Field Trip. Spoilers: From FTF on. Authors Notes: Okay, hope that all of you that asked for this like it. I didn't intend on this becoming a series, but a series it has become. I would also like to thank Rikki for unintentionally leading me to the Reflecting Pool. Also thanks to KD, who is becoming my partner in crime and who helped me through my writers block and wrote the start of the beautiful bench scene! All credit for the carnival game goes to my mommy. Feedback: Will be treated with the utmost respect...unless you are just being mean. Mail me at ScullyK8@aol.com Archive: Anywhere, just let me know where so I can visit it! Suggestion: You should really read the first part of this series, Lunch Break for this to make sense(it is at Gossamer). But this could be a stand alone if you have a really good imagination and sense of adventure. XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX Late Lunch Kate G. July 1999 Scully picked up her briefcase, which now contained the heart-shaped cookie that Mulder had bought her. It also held the note that he had left on top of the cookie. Scully- Even though you were mean to me you still have all of my... (this is the part where you look in the tissue paper...) Mulder- she thought. The note and the cookie had surprised her that was for sure. Mulder had been being particularly sweet to her since the events with Padgett had taken place. He had even stayed over at her apartment a few nights in a row. But in the past couple of days he had calmed down and things were back to normal...or so she thought. The last line of the note practically begged her to come. He had been nice and bought her lunch, so how could she say no to that? Besides, maybe there was more in store for her than just lunch. The walk to the Reflecting Pool was rather long and Scully quickly became engrossed in her thoughts as she walked down the streets of DC to the pool. The pool was always their special meeting place, so why was this time going to be special? They hardly ever just ate lunch there. Mulder sometimes made gut-wrenching confessions there. Or he would ask her to make choices about her life there. The last time was right after Antarctica. She had chose to stay with him and the work. But after they got back and went in front of OPR, things got kind of weird between them. Something was different. They had been fighting more than usual and her emotions were all over the place. One minute they were perfectly happy in their partnership and then the next, they were arguing about who was right, or who had misjudged a situation. So until the whole thing with Padgett, she thought that things would just continue until one of them snapped. A car flew by the sidewalk where Scully was standing making her sway and come back to reality. The grass on The Mall was still brown and dead looking from the winter months. But late spring weather always restored the color, she thought to herself. she pondered with a smile. She started walking again. The Washington Monument loomed in front of her and she realized that her walk to the Pool was nearing an end. Was she ready for what he had in store? she asked herself, frowning when she could come up with no answer. The only way she could find out was to walk up and sit down. "So why can't I?" She whispered to herself. she thought, laughing because she sounded like the Nike commercial. "Here goes nothing..." Scully could see Mulder in the distance. He was siting on the bench with two small paper bags next to him. He, too, appeared to be engrossed in his thought. She realized that this was one of the few times that they were meeting under quasi-happy circumstances. The sun was beginning to fall in the spring sky, casting long shadows across the pavement. The world seemed to be wrapped in an ethereal red-orange glow. Although the surroundings glowed in warm colors, there was still a faint chill to the air. She pulled her black suit jacket closed, for a moment wishing she had worn a heavier suit. Yet, she soon forgot the cold when she came to the bench. "Is this seat taken?" Scully inquired with one raised eyebrow. "No, but I should warn you, I'm feeling slightly..." Mulder started. "Slightly..." she prompted. "That's just it-I just don't know. But I feel something," he continued. "I'd say tired would be a good answer. We've put in a long day." "But now it's time to...relax." Scully held the cookie in front of him. "Even though you were mean to me," she started, quoting the note he had left her, "you still have my...cookie?" she suggested. Mulder smiled at her and threw his head back and made a wounded sound. "Ah Scully, not that. Way wrong answer." She just smiled and yet again, raised one eyebrow. He grinned back at her. For an extended moment, they just looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Mulder broke the gaze and motioned to the bags. Scully picked one up and started to open it, but suddenly stopped. She looked Mulder in the eye with a most intense look and said, "You know, if there's an iced tea in this bag...it could be love." She kept her eyes on him the whole time while reaching into the bag." An intense stare had been on his face, but suddenly his 'panic face' took over and he reached out to grab her wrist. "No, Scully wait... let's make it interesting." He held on to her slim wrist with one hand and reached out and grabbed both bags with his other hand. "There IS an iced tea in one of these bags, BUT which one? Is it love or is it...rootbeer?" Placing both of the bags on the bench between them Mulder started shuffling them. He moved one bag around the other and then back again. The process was repeated five times with each bag. The two individual bags blurred into one but Scully followed the bags with her eyes, her eyebrows almost in her hairline. Finally Mulder looked away from the bags and back up at her, the 'panic face' replaced by an impish grin. "All right Miss Scully, the choice is yours. If you pull an iced tea, well we both know what that means. You pull the other and then maybe it is fate." Scully reached her hand out tentatively; unsure if she wanted to leave their future up to a lucky (or unlucky) guess. But it was she who had started this game. It was becoming her mantra. Her hand went out to the bag on her right-and quickly withdrew and went to the other bag on the left. "Gotta choose, Scully." Mulder teased her, that grin on his face now diabolic. "Okay, okay," she replied shortly. She went with her first impulse and stuck her hand in the bag on the right. Her fingers closed around a bottle, wet with condensation but still cold. She closed her eyes and pulled the bottle out. She set the bottle in front of her and opened her eyes but she let her gaze stay where Mulder's eyes would be when he looked back up at her. He raised his head up slowly his eyes dragging up at the last moment. "Must be fate Scully...iced tea." Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hope it was as good for you as it was for me! Look for the next part in the series, Dinner Date. Thanks to everyone who gave (and will possibly give) feedback! ScullyK8@aol.com