Title: Now that's entertainment...
Spoilers: First Person Shooter
Rate: PG-13?

Comments: At first I didn't really like this episode and I tried to 
make the 'best of it', trying to look for anything 'shipper' related 
things, as any shipper would do :p. And that's how I came up with this 
story! When I watching the ep. to check if I had everything right for 
the story I actually thought the ep. was pretty funny! Anyway, bla, I 
hope you wil like the story!
Btw, couldn't find a suitable title, so if you have any suggestions let me know!

x-x-x

Now that's entertainment...

I was able to handle it. I was able to handle it this far. It was just 
all the testosteron, the blood in their bodies carying loads of the 
male hormone through their veins, to their brains, making them unable 
to think rational, and act, well, immature would be the best way to 
describe it. They were behaving like a bunch of teenagers. Out of 
control by just the sole stimulus of a video-game or oestrogen 
pumped-up woman. Men, I will never get them. Still I was able to 
handle it, telling myself over and over, their behavior was mostly 
biological in origin afterall.

I could have known it from the moment we walked into the FPS corporate 
offices. The exaggerated, strict, procedure at the counter was 
ridiculous. "Cool" Mulder responded. I just stood there, not knowing 
if I was supposed to take this check up seriously. Somehow something 
told me these offices were not part of any federal or military 
facilities, making me wonder what was up with the strict security. 
Where the hell did Mulder take me to this time?

"To protect all proprietary or intellectual property owned by FPS, a 
privvate California corporation under the 'harshest' penalty of law"

Okay...

They even had camera's.

"FPS?"

"First Person Shooter."

Videogames. I should have known. I couldn't believe I gave up my 
quiet, relaxing evening for such a thing as videogames, or 'digital 
entertainment' as Mulder countered. I guess everyone defines 
entertainment differently. I sure had other plans tonight. I was 
slightly pissed of for a second. Mulder knows well enough this does 
not amuse me at all. Then I realized there was nothing I could do 
about it and I was far away from my cosy couch anyway, or realxing 
bath for that matter. Might as well find out what was going on. Why 
was there so much security for a company that creates videogames 
anyway. It's preposterous. When Langly graced us with his presence I 
wasn't really suprised. Of course, who else than the lone gunmen could 
be behind all this. Their behavior was strange though. Espcially 
Byers. I think they were all trying to be Mr. Cool, or however they 
wanted to call it, but it all sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me. 
It didn't make sense. Launch pad? I didn't feel anything...Their 
little display quickly faded when I didn't return their boy-ish 
enthousiasm. There had been a murder. An unexplained murder: no 
equipement, or actually there was..., no forensic evidence, no killer, 
no actual killer that is. Just the video-game. Right. "It's a total 
digital environment. Nothing's real. It's all virtual." Phoebe said. 
That could have been true, but there was a dead body, a real dead 
body, and I was going to call the local PD.

30 minutes later I kind of felt sorry for Detective Lacoeur. He was 
not sure about what to make of the information I had given him...or 
should I say, the information that I had not given him. Then Mulder 
and his followers came striding into the room with their supposedly 
'suspect'. Was he serious? Detective Lacoeur didn't feel like hanging 
around for this, and any rational person would understand why. "She's 
not real. She's a character. She's some immature hormonal fantasy'. I 
was shocked when I detected to tiniest hint of offence, maybe even 
hurt, in the lone gunmen's faces when I said that. As if I was killing 
their dream. Come on! I couldn't believe these guys.

The door opened and my comment was long forgotten. Langly and Frohike 
excitement revived by the sight of this man named Daryl Mussashi, 'the 
Orignial Guru', Mulder informed me. They stared at him in awe. 
Apparently he was THE best videogame player of this time, a legend...a 
god. I was flabbergasted.

"Mulder, why does this game have the effect of reducing grown man to 
moony adolescents?"

He looked at me not comprehending why I did not understand. "It's 
Daryl Mussashi!" He whispered melodramatically. I groaned in 
frustration. Not Mulder too. As he walked off to join the rest I asked 
him if he wanted me to do the autopsy. I needed to focus on hard 
evidence, real, non-virtual evidence. His response was downright 
stupid. 'Whatever Mulder' I thought. I understood though. Mulder just 
sometimes needs to fit in with 'the guys', to feel manly, not that 
they are, but anyway...sometimes he just gets swept away a bit.

Though at first I was glad I could get away from all of this 
virtual-nonsense, I soon realized there was no escaping it. I had a 
hard time describing what exactly could be concluded from the external 
examination. I hadn't even finished it when Mulder came into the 
autopsy bay. "No luck?"

I told him I hadn't found anything. Mulder walked over to the vest 
picked it up and gave me a playfull look. "I've got a birthday coming 
up". For the first time that evening I felt some effects of my own 
hormones. Though I did not understand his enthousiasm, he did look 
cute.  "You have to admit, though, Scully, this is a pretty amazing 
piece of technology". "Yeah" I'd gave him that, "wasted on a stupid 
game". "Stupid?" In his voice was a tone of astonishement. Yes, stupid 
Mulder. "Dressing up like high-tech warriors to play a futuristic 
version of Cowboys and Indians? What kind of moron gets his ya-yas out 
like that?" As a reply Mulder grinned and pointed proudly at himself. 
I had a hard time supressing a smile. "Mulder, what - what purpose 
does this game serve except to add to a culture of violence in a 
country that's already out of control?" "Who says it adds to it?" "You 
think that taking up weapons and creating gratuitous virtual mayhem 
has any redeeming value whatsoever? I mean, that the testosterone 
frenzy that it creates stops when the game does?" " Well, that's 
rather sexist, isn't it?" Logically thinking I had to give him that, 
but still...only guys are crazy about videogames. "I mean, maybe the 
game provides an outlet for certain impulses, that it fills a void in 
our genetic makeup that the more civilizing effects of society failed 
to provide for." "Well, that must be why men feel the great need to 
blast the crap out of stuff." "Well, testosterone frenzy or no the 
only suspect we have in this man's murder is a woman". Mulder said and 
showed me the image of the volupteous cyber-woman again. "Yeah, I've 
seen it. A computer-animated woman, Mulder, with a computer-animated 
weapon." My frustration was back again. I had enjoyed our little, 
playful banter a minute before, but I'm not in the mood to discuss 
whether if this fictive, pumped up woman is the killer or not. "A 
flintlock pistol-- which would leave a very large entry wound". 
"Pictures don't kill people, Mulder, guns kill people". I didn't know 
why I was even trying. We were interupted by the opening doors of the 
autopsybay. Another dead body. The dead body of Daryl Musashi. I 
didn't had the time to finish the autopsies, since the L.A. Sheriff's 
department informed us they had picked up a female suspect for the 
murders. By the time we got there an enormous group of male officers 
were standing outside of the interrogation room. God I couldn't 
believe it. I was starting to get pissed off. I understand that 
sometimes men can't handle their hormonal bursts, but this was getting 
ridiculous. Didn't they have something better to do? We entered the 
room and thankfully Mulder closed the blinds to keep the intrudors 
out. The woman in the room looked exactly like the woman in the game. 
So this was her. This was what all the men got so fussed up about. 
Testosteron, the effects of it started to amaze me more and more 
during the case. "For the record, can you state your name, please?" " 
For the record again, my name is Jade Blue Afterglow. I reside..."

 "I'm sorry. Your real name? "That is my real name. What were you 
expecting? Mildred?" I looked at her. At least she was being honest to 
me, and to herself. "No." "I sure seem to be upsetting a lot of people 
around here." She said full of self-arogance. I was almost begining to 
losing my patience. Women like these make all the effort other women 
put into trying to be regarded equal to men seem useless. But even 
though she was getting all the attention of the men around it didn't 
bother me. Because deep down inside I knew women like her were just an 
object, a toy. Though they did get attention, they did not get 
respect.  "Well, you're not upsetting me, Miss, uh..." "Afterglow." 
Mulder jumped in,his voice indicating that he too was impressed by her 
presence. I glanced at him. Thanks, but no thanks Mulder.  "I sure 
upset the man running the metal detector". Miss Afterglow replied. She 
then fellt the need to uncross and cross her legs. I'm sorry, but I 
did not need to see that. I sighed. I've had some strange 
interrogations before, but this one...this one was also one to 
remember to say the least. "You say that you have no knowledge of Ivan 
Martinez or a company known as First Person Shooter or F.P.S.?" "I 
meet a lot of men." I was sure she did. " Would it surprise you to 
know that you have been placed at a crime scene in the offices of 
F.P.S.? " "Let's just say it takes a whole lot to surprise me." She 
was playing a game and though it might had fooled the other officers, 
I about had enough of it. " You might want to start telling the 
truth." We finally learned that Miss Afterglow had been paid to have 
her body scanned and that that was probably how the image of her got 
into the game. Since we didn't have anything other evidence pointing 
to her possible connection to the crime, we had to let her go. 
Mulder's eyes followed miss Jade Blue Afterglow left the room. Which 
would not have been so bad if he hadn't leaned to the side to get a 
better view. I leaned to the side as well, blocking his view. He was 
pushing his limits. I had looked passed all his typical male behavior, 
I was able to handle it, not only because his behaviour was no 
different from any other guy in the room, but also because I knew that 
in the end he would always chose me. Because this superficial woman 
didn't mean anything to him, did not even come close to me and because 
Mulder was the man who was in 'my' bed this morning, just as he had 
been any other morning over the past month. I smiled at him though, 
not wanting him to give him a too hard time. I just to wanted to let 
him know I was also there and if he was going to push it further he 
might not be getting so lucky later on. He got the hint. "I don't know 
about you, Scully, but I am feeling the great need to blast the crap 
out of something". I smiled at him, that was exactly how I was 
feeling. I was able to handle it. Up till the moment Mulder decided to 
get his ya-ya's out and got stuck in that stupid game. God damnit, 
what was he thinking? Was it just too blast the crap out of stuff or 
did he feel like he needed to prove his manhood to the guys? He could 
have been killed. Killed over a stupid game! Though I was furious at 
him I had no other choice to get into the game myself. I couldn't let 
something happen to Mulder without trying to save him. So, I saved his 
ass. The first few minutes were easy. I was somehow very willing to 
eliminate the 'vixen' out of the game. Luckily, when it was getting to 
hard, Phoebe killed the game before it killed us. I still hear 
Mulder's words in my head when she and the Lone Gunmen found us. "Now 
THAT's entertainment." Entertainment?? Ironically, I could have killed 
him right there and then. Now we are finally back our motel. Mulder is 
hyper. He was bouncing up and down in his seat the whole ride home. 
"That was amazing, wasn't it Scully." He rambled on about the game, 
about the fine line between virtual and 'real' reality, different 
parrallel worlds and more. I just let him talk while I tried to 
supress my growing anger in the meantime. I walk into the room and 
Mulder follows me. Though we always book two rooms, we often just 
sleep in one. I put my sleeping bag away, pull off my jacket and shoes 
and immediately head for the bathroom. I hear Mulder roaming around in 
the room, god knows what he's doing. I sigh and close my eyes. I'm too 
tired. Too tired to tell he'd better sleep in his own room if he keeps 
behaving like this. He won't understand why and I'm too tired too go 
into discussion, too tired to tell him what a jerk he sometimes can 
be. When I bend over to spit out the water I used to wash the remains 
of toothpaste away I feel a pair of hands being placed on my hips. As 
I come up Mulder wraps his arms firmly around me and pulls me close to 
his body. "You were amazing Scully" he whispers in my ear and then 
kisses it. I ignore him and reach for the towel to dry my hands. He 
keeps nuzzling me but I stay non-responsive. It doesn't take him long 
to notice. His grip on me losens and he looks at me questionly. I 
sigh. "I'm just not in the mood Mulder" I say as I gently push him 
away from me and walk towards the bedroom. It takes him a few seconds 
to register what I said before he follows me to the bedroom. "You are 
not in the mood?"

"Is that so strange?" I counter him.

His mouth is moving, but nothing but stammering comes out of him.

I raise an eyebrow. IS that strange? He'd better think carefully of 
what he is going to say next.

"No, no that's not strange Scully...of course not". I nod, ignoring 
his still confused expression. I turn and start to unbutton my blouse.

"I know it sounds strange Scully, but I was surprised, I mean, it's 
just that...you've never...felt that way" he stammers, apparently 
feeling my anger.

I realize it indeed is actually the first time that I am not in the 
mood and for a moment it saddens me, but still I am too angry at him. 
"I'm just tired" I lie, I don't feel like getting into it.

"Is this about Maitreya?" he asks, immediately hearing the lying tone 
in my voice. I stay silent, not knowing how I should respond to this.

"Scully you know she's means nothing to me or the men in the office, I 
mean sure she is an attractive woman, but not the kind of wo-"

"It's not about Miss Afterglow, Mulder" I interrupt him before he 
unnecessarily makes it worse. I pull my pyjama over my head and start 
to button it up. He observes me in the meantime, meanwhile his mind is 
working hard to figure out what he did wrong.

" Scully I understand you did not particular get your yaya's out of 
this case, and I am sorry it took so long for us to solve it, but it's 
not like I planned to give you a bad time on purpose. I didn't know 
you dislike videogames this much. And I figured videogames was not the 
point anyway. I just saw it as any other x-file".

I turn around, not having a pyjama top to bother myself with, I can't 
keep my back towards to him. "It's not about me not getting my yaya's 
out." I say with restrained anger. "Look Mulder, I am really tired and 
I don't feel like discussing this."

"Well I do Scully, you are obviously upset with me and unless you tell 
me I will have no idea why. I want to know Scully." He's getting 
impatient.

"Mulder, I don't want to say things you might take the wrong way."

"That is BS Scully" he snaps, his patience obviously gone now, "there 
is no such thing as taking something the wrong way. There is no such 
thing if you tell me the truth."

I stay silent, not giving in. We battle silently, my blazing eyes 
fixed on him, staring hard. His expression changes. The concern that 
was in his eyes a moment ago is nowhere to be found. He gives in.

"Fine." He says curtly, "if you want to talk I'll be in the other 
room". Angry, he slams the door on his way out.

x-x-x

She's crying silently. I hear her sniffing and her shallow intakes of 
breath. I don't think she heard me opening the door. As I stand here, 
hearing her cry and seeing her petite form shaking lightly under the 
covers, my heart goes out to her. She doesn't cry easily, and even 
though I really do not understand her earlier behavior I can't stay 
really mad at her when I see her like this. Something must be really 
wrong. It just pisses me off that she doesn't want to tell me. And not 
only because she is not giving me a change to tell my side of he 
story, but more so because she won't open up to me. She said she wants 
to protect me, keep me from taking things the wrong way... I can't 
take this anymore. I need to know.

I walk over to the side of the bed. When I face her I see she is 
asleep. A thick tear rolls slowly down her cheek when her head moves 
slightly upwards. The light from the window now falls on her face and 
I see her brow is furrowed and her lips are tightened. She's dreaming. 
I carefully move a strand of her hair away face and she awakens 
slowly. I cup her cheek with my hand and removing the few tears that 
remained there with my thumb. She looks at me, her eyes are wide, full 
of fear.

"Hey, it's okay" I say and lean over to place a soft kiss on her brow. 
Her body starts shaking as more tears begin to fall. I pull up the 
covers and on cue she scoots over, giving me space to crawl in next to 
her. She immediately nestles her little body against mine. I hold her 
tight as she silently cries. My soothing words and caresses seem to 
calm her and it doesn't take long for her to stop.

"Are you okay?" I ask carefully.

She's silent for a moment, and I'm afraid it's too soon for her.

"Yes...I uhm, I had a bad dream."

I nod and softy kiss the top of her head. In reaction she turns up her 
head to look at me. Her hand comes up, and just like I did before, she 
strokes it softly with her thumb. She pulls my head closer and lifts 
her lips to mine to share a soft, sweet kiss, thanking me for being 
patient. We just lie for a while, enjoying each other's soft kisses ad 
touches. Just when I am about to fall asleep she decides she wants to 
share.

"I dreamed that I had lost you." It comes out as a simple statement, 
but I know it's so much more than that. Suddenly I have a light-bulb 
moment.

"That was it."

She just nods. She had been upset. Upset that I had put my life in 
danger, that she could have lost me. It's so obviously clear now that 
I can not believe I did not realize it sooner.

"Why Mulder?" In her voice I hear accusation but more than that I hear 
hurt.

I think about 'why'. I don't know why actually, I just did it. Too 
safe the guys.

"There were other ways to save them Mulder."

"We weren't sure Scully, I could not take that chance."

She stays silent.

"Look Scully, you know this job has it dangers, it always had and they 
will be coming."

I feel her body stiffen a bit. Obviously she does not agree. I prop 
myself up so that I can take a good look at her. I'm at a total loss, 
again.

"What? You don't want me to take these risks anymore?" I ask 
astonished.

"Mulder, you could have been killed."

"That comes with the job." She backs away from me, our intimate moment 
seems over.

"I know Mulder, that is not the point." Our voices are flaring up 
again.

"Then help me get the point Scully!" I almost yell, my feelings of 
frustration at her irrational behavior are coming back. She distances 
herself even more. Sitting up, she towers over me.

"A videogame Mulder! You almost got killed over a STUPID videogame!" 
I'm about to protest, but I don't get the chance.

"I don't understand why you would risk your life only so you could 
blast the crap out of stuff! Or to 'prove' your manhood to the guys." 
Her hands are flying wildly in the air, emphasizing the point she's 
trying to make.

"It was not to blast the crap out of stuff Scully, I tried to save the 
guys!"

"Mulder, you and I both now that all that testosterone-induced 
behavior turned you all into immature boys who were not able to make 
rational decisions."

 I look at her, maybe she is partly right. I did not over think my 
decision thoroughly, but I would have never gone into that game if I'd 
thought I did not have a change.

"And even if you didn't Mulder, in the end you did not even seem to 
care. It was just all 'entertainment' to you!".

I sit up straighter too. "Excuse me Scully, but who is calling the 
cattle black here? Why did you decide to step in? If this was all so 
dangerous and irrational?"

"By that time we DID indeed not have another choice Mulder. And I did 
not do it to get my yaya's out of it. You were going to be toast."

"Look Scully, at every point in our career we come to a point were we 
have to make quick decisions. I don't see why this is so much 
different than other cases. Just because you aren't too fond of 
videogames doesn..."

"That's right Mulder, I am not to fond of videogames. Especially not 
when they try to kill you! God damn it Mulder! If I am ever going to 
lose you at least let it be because of something more meaningful! When 
I was lying in the hospital dying, I had a hard time making sense of 
all of it...trying to give it meaning. I could not deal with losing 
you over a stupid video game!"

I am paralyzed. I hadn't realized... God I am a jerk. How could I have 
not thought about that. Her rant seems to be over and I see that in 
the meantime she started crying again.

"Oh god, I'm sorry Scully."

I move closer to her and wrap her in my arms. She's sobbing 
uncontrollably now. I pull her even closer, my grip tightening.

"It just wouldn't make sense" She whispers between her sobs."

"Scully, I'm so sorry, you were right, it was stupid" I whisper, not 
knowing what to say else, I repeat myself over and over, while in the 
meantime I stroke her hair and place soft kisses on the top of her 
head.

"Sometimes you are such a carefree jerk" She says. She means it but 
there is a slight hint of humor in her voice. I does not cheer me up 
though. I can't believe I have been so inconsiderate to her feelings.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am Scully. I have no idea what you've 
been through, I mean, how it was for you, but I know how I felt when 
you were sick. I...I..." I can't form the words. They are stuck, the 
lump in my throat blocking them. "It did not make sense, I was so 
scared Dana." I'm feeling my own tears start to well up. "I'm sorry 
for being so inconsiderate...damn it, you deserve better than such a 
hopeless jerk like me."

She starts to chuckle, I don't know whether it's from happiness or if 
I finally made her go mental. "That's exactly why I didn't want to 
tell you Mulder."

I look at her confused.

"Mulder, yes you are a jerk sometimes, and yes it does upset me once 
in a while...but that doesn't mean you are not a good man. You always 
unnecessarily put so much blame on you. You can't save your loved ones 
from any harm on your own."

"But I didn't even save them, I only caused them harm, like I cause 
you harm."

She takes my face firmly between her hands and captures my full 
attention with her beautiful, honest eyes. "No you don't." She 
emphasizes. "Do you think I would have stayed here if you would have?  
Mulder, I don't think I've ever been as happy as I am now, with you." 
Her voice breaks as it turns smaller and quieter, almost into a 
whisper.

"Even now??"

She chuckles again. "Even now".

"Scully, can you forgive me if I tell you I try not to let my feelings 
to get the crap out of stuff overrule my judgment?" She nods. "I think 
I already did somewhere between the 8th and the 9th time you said you 
apologized"

"So, are we good?"

"We're good."

Slowly we lie down again. I take her into her arms and carefully drape 
the covers tightly around us. It doesn't take long for us to fall into 
a deep sleep.

x-x-x

Before I know it it's already morning. Mulder is leaving a trail of 
butterfly kisses on my back, making his way slowly up towards my arm, 
shoulder, and he ends by giving some special attention to that 
sensitive spot of my neck. Still being in a state of half-awakening, I 
can do nothing but let him hear my appreciation.

"Hey." He whispers in my ear. As I response I stretch the tiredness 
out of my muscles turn around. "Hey." We share a smile. A kiss 
follows.

Mulder looks at me, his expression serious. For a moment I think he 
wants to talk about last night. I know him, he will keep blaming 
himself for a while, no matter what I tell him. "Dana...I love you".

 I smile. It's only the second time he has said it to me. That time 
when he was drug-induced after looking for that ship in the Bermuda 
triangle not included.

"And I love you Mulder."

We share another kiss. Then another one. Slowly our kisses become 
deeper and more sensual, and with it I become more and more aroused. 
As my hands find their way to Mulder's bare chest, his hands slip 
under my pajama top, softly caressing the sensitive skin. I arch my 
back, wanting more of his touch. He takes this opportunity to slide 
his hands underneath it and rolls me over so he is on top.

"You know Scully, we had our first fight, I think it's time we make up 
properly" he breathes into my mouth. "What do you think?"

"Now THAT's entertainment." I reply.

He chuckles "the best there is", and we continue our love-making.

x-x-x The End