From: spooky42@juno.com Subject: REVISED: "One Small Step" (1/1) Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 05:22:14 EDT ======================= "One Small Step" -a glance ahead (hopefully) to 'Max'- written by GreenFish post date: 18th March 1997 ======================= AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was written before "Max" aired, under rumors of what I heard Mulder *might* end up doing... imagine my disappointment later on... Anyway-- if you want a cute senario (that kind of denies the whole concept of "Max"), read this. Thanks also to Michelle-- my soul sister-- and the Institution for Relationshippers, for whom this story would never have been possible without. ========================= DISCLAIM: Mulder and Scully, others... belong to the Big Double C up there in Canada... or whatever circles he likes to haunt now. DISTRIBUTE: Wherever CONTENT/SPOILER: "Tempus Fugit" spoilers. A little bit of UST betwix't our two favorite partners... don'tcha just love that stuff? RATING: PG ARCHIVE: V; R SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully discuss birthdays past and present, and the true meaning behind that little keychain... ======================== "One Small Step" (part 1/1) -Washington D.C., 7:10 p.m.- "Hey, Scully--" Special Agent Fox Mulder leaned over the table, an all-too-familiar drink straw hanging out of his mouth. "Mulder," she said, dipping her head, "the last time you looked like that, you had half the bar singing 'Happy Birthday' to me. You don't have anything up your sleeve, do you?" Mulder grinned at her, causing the straw in his mouth to flick up and hit his face. He flinched, and Scully smiled lightly. There was a short pause. "No... I, uh-- no." "Oo-kay," Scully said, pulling her drink up to take a sip-- and also to create a distraction. Lately, she hadn't been able to predict what her partner was going to do lately. He wasn't exactly smothering her-- but ever since learning that she had been dianosed with cancer-- there was something a bit different in her disposition. Scully couldn't quite place it-- Well, she thought, this *had* been the first time that Mulder had remembered her birthday in all the time she had known him... He wasn't one for sappy repertoire, but she also knew that he was too involved in his work to think about those sort of things. She had also noticed he tended to try and avoid his own birthday by working through the day. Scully had tried slipping him a few cartons of Chinese food cartons of his favorite dish, and even attempted a "Happy Birthday" on the day last year, but he laughed it off-- much like he had when she had tried using his first name once. She remembered it well... "Thanks, but uh-- I, try, uh--" "Hmm?" She had raised her eyebrows at him, still holding the Chinese food containers in her hand. "I've lost count after all these years, y'know..." Scully smiled at the joke to acknowledge it. She didn't agree with Mulder's methods, however. As usual. "Mulder... no one is here on a Sunday. And certainly not on their--" "I have a lot of work to finish." Scully nodded. She knew Mulder wasn't about to argue the point, and it wasn't her way to beat a dead horse. Quietly setting the Chinese food cartons on the desk, she headed for the door. Scully turned around. "See you tomorrow, Mulder." She remembered him looking up at her. And Scully saw something haunted in those eyes... a sadness, almost. As she looked at Mulder now, forced back to the present, Scully searched for that look, but saw nothing of the sort. All she could find in his eyes were anticipation. "What?" Scully said. "Nothing," Mulder replied. In the subsequent pause that ensued, Scully made it clear that she didn't believe that for a second. But, as he always did, Mulder chose to ignore her look. "Did you get to visit Pendrell in the hospital?" he asked. Scully nodded. "Yeah." "How was he doing?" "Okay," she replied. "It's almost a miracle that the bullet just happened to only nick an artery, and scape the bone. If it would have hit muscle--" Scully cringed, looking right out on the spot that Pendrell had been standing when he was caught in the crossfire. "I just--" Scully shook her head. "I can't help but blame myself. He was smashed, Mulder... it wasn't Pendrell's fault, and if I--" "What?" Mulder asked. "If you could have taken the shot? That bullet was meant for *you*, Scully. It could have =killed= you. We just have to be glad that Pendrell was lucky in where he got shot." Mulder reached and touched Scully's fingertips across the table. She looked over at him, and saw a scared look in his eyes. She remembered that look distinctly. From not all that long ago... <"When... I came to find you, and you weren't in your room, I got scared something had happened..."> "I'm okay," Scully whispered, just barely audible enough for Mulder to hear. He couldn't have masked the genuine smile that began to form on his face. Mulder nodded slightly. There was a little pause, and Mulder picked up a string he had dropped a few moments earlier. "Besides... I really don't think, in the big scheme of things-- Pendrell minded taking that bullet for you." Scully nodded, forcing a small smile. Mulder was probably right about that-- which was the scary thing, she thought. "By the way--" Mulder continued, pulling the straw out of his mouth. He laid it on the table, and devoted his full attention to Scully. She looked at her partner curiously. "Hmm?" "What *did* Pendrell end up getting you for your birthday?" The straw went back into Mulder's mouth. Scully frowned. "How did you know about that?" Mulder grinned again, and glanced downward for a second. "He, uh... came down to the office one day when you were gone, asking for ideas." Scully's eyebrows went up. "What did you tell him?" "What did he get you?" "I asked you first, Mulder." "Well, I told him that you liked red underwear, because it matched your hair." Scully's eyes became saucers. "When he asked why I knew that, I just shrugged," Mulder went on. This time, her jaw dropped, too. "*What?* You're ki--" "So, Scully," he said, interrupting her. "What *did* he end up getting you?" For half a second, Scully was so tempted to reply, "That's for me to know, and you to find out." But she was afraid to see him try and find out. She decided it was safer just to tell him. "Uhm..." She pursed her lips together. "He got me tickets." "Tickets--?" "To go to an opera," Scully replied. Mulder noticed how she had suddenly began to drop her eye contact with him. "It was, uh... really thoughtful." She shook her head, and opened her mouth to continue, but nothing else came out. "But--?" Mulder said. "But," she replied, "I guess... I'm just not interested. He's the sweetest person, and he tries so hard, but--" Scully's voice trailed off, and she began to glance around the room, almost as if expecting him to come up behind her at that moment. Mulder could sense a mixture of guilt and remorse over last week's incident, still remaining in her mind. "Scully," he said, causing her to look up at him. His eyebrows furrowed, and she watched his mouth trip up at the beginning of the sentence. "Did you... um, do you still have that keychain I, uh...?" Mulder didn't complete the sentence. Scully knew what he was talking about, however. She pulled out her set of keys, which had the keychain commemorating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing attached to them. She caught a veiled verson of flattery spreading over Mulder's face. "Keep it right here, Mulder," she said, causing that expression on his face to increase. The straw moved between his lips, and he smiled with his teeth again. "I, uh-- meant to tell you last week, before all of this happened," he said somewhat sheepishly. Scully's head cocked to one side, in that look that could disarm him or any of his defenses in a matter of split seconds. "I, uhm... got you that because, um... you know how the Apollo 11 moon landing affected me when I was a kid, and uh--" Mulder forced himself to make eye contact. "I just... wanted you to know that you've had a similiar effect on my life." Mulder pressed his lips together, and nodded, to confirm the statement. Scully's expression evolved subtly. Her brow softened, and her mouth slowly formed a smile. She sighed, almost inaudibly, and replied, "I know I said this before, Mulder, but I really *am* touched. To know that--" She stopped, clicking her tongue. Mulder knew what she was trying to say, and he sighed himself, slightly. "I, uh-- know that I really don't tell you that all that often, though," he said softly, "so I just wanted to tell you... and, um..." He nodded to the keychain. Scully smiled again, and stood up. She went over to where Mulder was sitting, and gently touched her lips to his cheek. "Thanks, Mulder." As she walked over to the bar to pay their bill, Mulder sat back, unseen to Scully, a hazy look coming over his eyes. -the end- ...please! Send me some comments about this story!! Was it too sappy-- or could this be realistic? Any other thoughts about "Tempus Fugit?" E-mail me...