From: "C. Shuy" Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 20:50:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Not-A-Date (1/1) Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, the X-Files, and associated characters are property of David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting Corporation. They are used without permission and no copyright infringement is meant. Any elements not recognized as being taken from the show copyright Christina Shuy. Comments and other things sent to cshuy@netcom.com are much appreciated. All of my fanfic can be found at http://www.crosswinds.net/seattle/~trouble42/cshuy/ Thank you to Diana Alexander for the space and the set up. Rating: G, Story, Spoilers: Librally sprinkled to the end of Season 6. Nothing from Biogenesis, tho. Summary: Mulder and Scully go out for dinner together, friendly like. Author's Note: This story is probably set between the time of "Field Trip" and "Biogenesis". And this is NoRoMo safe. Unless you consider friendly dinners 'romantic'? Not-A-Date by Christina Shuy cshuy@netcom.com "Hey, Scully, do you want to go out to dinner or something?" Dana Scully turned to look at her partner. "What, Mulder?" "I said... do you want to go out to dinner with me or something? No shop talk. No paranoia. Just you and me... getting to be better friends." She studied his expression and was a little shocked to see that Fox Mulder, typical smartarse and paranoid wisecracker, was actually a little timid and shy about asking her out, almost as though he was afraid she'd turn him down. And although the thought had crossed her mind, she'd not seriously considered it. It sounded like a great idea to her, actually. "Is this a date, Mulder?" "Not if you don't want it to be. Like I said: I want to be better friends with you." "Are you sure we're not still tripping out on those hallucinogens produced by the mushroom we were trapped in? Or maybe we're still IN the mushroom." "Scully... you're making such a big deal out of a simple dinner invite?" "That's because most things with you involved are complicated, Mulder." "Not this... not this time." "Then this is just supposed to be a nice, friendly dinner?" "Yeah. You, me, a table, food, talking. You can't picture it?" Mulder asked with a smile, though Scully caught the mischevious look in his eyes. "No ulterior motive other than relaxation." "And this isn't a date?" "Like I said, not if you don't want it to be a date. Come on, Scully, didn't you ever just go out with friends and hang out and chat and stuff?" "Okay, Mulder. You got me. Just make sure it's not too cheap. I'm tired of eating fast food." "That's not a problem. How does Tony Roma's sound to you?" "That's great. I love the food there." "When's a good time?" "You know, Mulder, I've almost never seen you in relax-mode before. How about we just go there directly from work? I carpooled in today and was going to either do that to get home, or find another way to get home." "Cool! So, it's a date then." "Mulder..." He just grinned at her. Tony Roma's was unhurried and uncrowded. Then again, it was the middle of the week, and most people were too harried and stressed from their jobs to think about going to dinner anywhere other than home. Mulder and Scully were seated immediately. And they were both so hungry, they'd ordered right away too. "Hey, Scully, what made you decide to join the Bureau? From what I read in your senior thesis, you had a lot of choices to follow and you did really well in physics." "I thought you didn't want to talk about work, Mulder." "I don't... but I wanted to know why you picked the line of work you're in now. Forensic pathology seems a far cry from Einstein's Twin Paradox. Though maybe your thesis helped with chasing unusual phenomenon... I can't really tell." "Didn't you ever just want to be well-rounded, Mulder? See exactly what you could do and just DO it?" "The thought had crossed my mind a few times, yeah." "What would you want to do, though, Mulder? Writer, doctor, psycho-therapist...? I'm sure you could probably turn one of the Files into a good science fiction story... by changing a few of the facts, of course." "I guess. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, though, Scully, but for someone with a psychology degree, I'm a lousy judge of people. I mean absolutely *lousy*. I don't know who I can trust, and I don't know exactly what I believe either." She blinked in surprise. "You don't? What about the aliens, UFOs, and little green, um, excuse me, little *grey* men?" "Maybe they're just a load of bullshit. Maybe my entire life has been one big lie." "Mulder, the fact that you and I are here together having a nice friendly dinner is not a lie. Nor is the fact that I *did* see something in the sky over Antarctica. I'm just not sure what that *something* even was. And as for your entire life being a lie, does that mean I'm a lie too? And the Lone Gunmen? Are they lies? For all the lies that have been told, I think you've found more truth than you give yourself credit for." Mulder was silent for a while. Scully noted that he had that contemplative look on his face that he got every time he was also in the midst of self-recrimination. As well as guilt. "Thinking about that makes me paranoid. I hate being lied to, except that with the way things have been going in my life, I don't know what's a lie and what isn't anymore. And that hurts. It really hurts." "Is that why you seem to be constantly hooking up with questionable women?" "Or none at all. I guess that's it, Scully." "Or none at all? What do you mean?" "Precisely what I've said. I haven't been involved with anyone since Diana left. At least, not seriously. For a while, I considered being a gigalo or something, but that reminded me far too much of Phoebe, so I settled for celibate instead. Chastity... well... that's a bit more difficult, and I'm not sure I'd be able to go through with it." "Because of all those videos that aren't yours?" Scully asked, teasingly. "Something like that." He answered with a grin. "But at least I know I'm practicing safe sex." That set them both to laughing for a while. "Would you mind my asking you a personal question?" "Not at all. I just have to warn you that I might not answer it, is all." "What is between you and Diana?" Mulder sighed and shrugged. "I think the past tense would probably be better suited to *that* part of my life." "And why is that?" "I used to think it was love. Now... I don't know. I mean, I think about the way she left... it was kind of abrupt, and I was hurt." "But you still trust her...?" "Scully, it's kind of hard to stop trusting someone once you've started, no matter how badly they may have hurt you. I don't know if you notice that or not..." Scully thought back to all of the people she had felt were trustworthy and what had happened with some of them. Sighing slightly, she nodded. "I guess I see what you mean." "And as for Diana... Well, you know what they say... love is blind, deaf, and dumb in some cases." "But that never stops you from flirting." "Scully, as far as I can see, there's nothing wrong with flirting..." He was smiling at her again. Nothing untoward in that smile, except that it made her heart skip a beat *because* there was nothing else in that smile other than the genuine emotion of affection and caring which had been building between them since they were first partnered. The friendship which had started from nothing was now strong and true. There were still trust issues, of course, but that happened no matter who was involved. "I know. I just wish-" "What, Scully? What do you wish?" "Sometimes, I wish you'd tone it down a little." "I can... if you like." "Then again, other times I see you so absorbed in what's going on that you don't notice anyone else flirting with you and the only person you are flirting with at that point seems... well..." "Seems to be whom, Scully?" "Seems to be me, Mulder." "Wanna know a secret?" "Sure, Mulder." "It's because you're the only one I *am* flirting with." "But what about Bambi or Detective White... or even Karen-" "Don't you see, though, Scully? They don't really matter. You do. Like I said... I flirt, yeah, but there's really no harm in it. I'm not really interested in them. Besides, I kind of like to see exactly what I can get away with." "Somehow, I had a feeling you'd say that." "A feeling?" Mulder leaned into the table, closer towards her, eyes gleaming mischeviously. "You mean like a hunch?" Scully grinned back at him, remembering a certain line of conversation in a car once, and she was all for it. "Something like that." "That's a pretty extreme hunch." "I seem to recall *you* having some pretty extreme hunches." "I never have!" That set the partners to laughing. "I do have one regret about our partnership though, Scully..." "And that would be...?" "That over the years we've known each other, I've given you far too little reason to laugh or smile, or even just relax. I mean, sure we're partners, but I've been a lousy friend to you." "I'm not sure I've helped matters, though, Mulder. Or has the phrase *I'm fine* escaped your photographic memory?" "I didn't want to bring it up. I still feel guilty over-" "Mulder... remember what I said that time you were forced on vacation? Not everything is about you. I kept saying I was fine because deep down inside, I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that I had cancer... I wanted to BE fine. Call it whatever you want, but I was in quite a bit of denial." "Hey, Scully, I wasn't about to say anything. After all, I know how you are with a gun, remember?" He smiled at her again to make sure she knew he was only teasing. "Yeah... Oh, Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Wanna come over? We can watch silly movies and put our feet up on my furniture. I think I have popcorn in one of my cupboards." "Sounds like fun to me, Scully..." They noticed that sometime during their conversation, the check for their dinners had arrived. Mulder pulled out his wallet. "Let me get this one. The next time we want to do something like this, you can pay, okay?" "It's a date then?" Scully raised an eyebrow, though there was a smile on her face. "Yeah... I like that idea." Dropping enough to pay for dinner and give the server a proper tip, he folded his wallet back into his jacket. "C'mon, Scully... let's go home. I'm in the mood for a *really* silly movie." -End...?- "The Truth is Out There. Trust No One."- from "The X-Files" Pursuing a BS(Electrical Engineering)-Math 209 - Spring Quarter 1999-CSULA Looking for work and a place to live - San Jose bound delayed till August "If his hand moves from the small of my back, shoot him." Anne Rooney(C-16) "Don't mind him. He'll go on forever." - Dana Scully, The X-Files "Alpha"