From: eponine119@att.net (eponine119 )
Date: 25 May 1996 05:16:24 GMT
Subject: NEW: Red Shoe Julia 1/1


This story, which is half humor, half spoof, half sexual tension...oops, 
too many halfs...is brought to you in answer a challenge on a mailing 
list I'm on.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!  Comments are very welcome...I 
have no idea if any of this works.

Disclaimer:  The characters belong to Chris Carter, 10-13 and Fox.  The 
movies belong to a variety of people, most of whose names I don't know.  
So we'll just say, if you recognize it, it ain't mine.

Red Shoe Julia
by eponine119 
eponine119@att.net
May 7, 1996

Mulder couldn't find the Roswell movie.  It was always there, on the 
second to the last shelf of the new releases section, as though it was 
waiting for him.  Laughing at him, almost, saying, "Who else would want 
to watch this?"  But it wasn't there.

It's OK, he thought.  I can deal with this.  He jammed his hands down in 
his pockets and started for the drama section. Mulder was sure it 
wouldn't end up in SciFi.  Sure enough, there it was in the drama section.
.but it was neatly tucked under someone's arm.

It's OK, he thought.  I don't really need to  watch it again.  But he was 
very disappointed.  He hadn't realized until that moment how much he'd 
come to depend on its pathetic availability.  It was stability in his 
life, a life without any stability at all except...

"Scully?"

She turned; it was her.  "Mulder," she said calmly, but he could tell she 
was surprised to see him.  She gave him one of her funny smiles and he 
could tell she was trying to think of something to say.

He touched the movie tucked between her elbow and her coat.  "Kyle 
MacLachlan fan?" he asked.

She shrugged.  "I guess."

"Ever watch 'Three Trees'?" he asked conversationally, leaning against 
the shelving unit and trying to look over her shoulder at the movies she 
held, one in each hand.

"Yeah, but they lost me when they brought on that guy wearing the dress," 
said Scully, and looked down at the movies in her hands.  "Which one 
should I get?"  She held them up to him.

In one hand she held 'Kanada,' which Mulder had seen.  "Chad Seed fan?" 
he asked, referring to the hot young actor who played the murderous ex-
Mountie.  Scully shook her head and unconsciously tapped her thumb 
against the face of the other man in the picture, the tall, dark one who 
played the writer on a journey to Canada to research the Mounties.

"What's the other one?' Mulder asked.

She laughed as she read the title.  "'Red Shoe Julia.'  It's about a guy 
who -"

"-calls women on the phone, I've seen it," Mulder finished for her.  

She looked up at him, at little surprised.  Then she broke into a smile.  
"I thought it sounded like one of those movies they have in the private 
room.  You know."  She gestured with her thumb to the adult movie section.
  Then her gaze on him changed and she opened her mouth to speak, but he 
knew what she was going to say.

"I do watch other movies, Scully," Mulder informed her, and she gave him 
a goofy, doubtful look.  "But you're missing something obvious here."

"What's that?" she asked, her eyes wide and clear as she looked up at him.


He gently took both movie boxes from her hands and held them up, together,
 in front of her eyes.  "These both have the same actor in them."  She 
leaned in closer, squinting at the pictures, and tilted her head as 
though to say, 'get real'.  "Seriously," he said.  "Bobby Bucharest.  Who 
also, incidentally, also played the cross-dressing cop on 'Three Trees'.
"

Scully faked a shiver.  "Now that's spooky," she said sarcastically, 
snatching the movies back from him and inspecting them closely.  Turned 
out he was right.  She frowned at them, trying to decide which one to 
rent.

"It is when you consider who he looks like."

"Who's that?" Scully asked, wondering where on earth this conversation 
could be going next.  With Mulder, she was never quite sure.

"Me."

Scully laughed.  Hard.  "You think you look like a movie star?" she asked,
 grinning.

"I've been mistaken for him more than once, Scully," Mulder informed her. 
 "I even had to sign his name when these two teenage girls at the grocery 
store wouldn't believe I wasn't him."

"You're lying."  she said.  His expression didn't change.  "You're not 
lying."  He shook his head slightly.  "Huh."

Mulder put his hands over hers, stroking them very lightly as he leaned 
in close to her ear.  "So now you have to consider why," he murmured, his 
lips very close to her skin.  Just as abruptly, he released her and 
walked away, pretending to become engrossed in the plot summary of 
'Beethoven' when he was actually watching her.  

Her face was flushed as she set down one of the videos, and then, as an 
afterthought, put down the Roswell movie, too.  He watched her check out, 
and then casually wandered over to where she'd been standing.  He picked 
up the Roswell video and looked for a moment at the picture on the front 
of the 'Kanada' box.  Grinning, he walked up to the check-out counter.  
By the time he left the store, he was whistling.

				XXX

Scully jumped off the couch when the telephone rang.  She wasn't 
expecting anyone to call, and she *was* watching a movie that centered 
around the telephone.  Reluctantly, she turned the movie off with a flick 
of the remote as the phone rang again, stopping it in the middle of the 
erotic climax, in which Julia put on her red high heels and wrote in her 
diary while waiting for her secret meeting with her telephone lover.  
"Hello?'

"Happy Birthday to you," a soft, masculine voice said into her ear.

Scully's stomach clenched, extremely aware that that was how Julia's 
telephone lover had opened his conversation.  "It's not my birthday," she 
said.

"I know...Scully, it's me," he said and then she was able to breathe 
again, recognizing Mulder's voice.  "How's the movie?'

"Almost over," she said.

"You like it?"

"Actually, yeah." she said.  "It's not as sleazy as I thought."  He 
chuckled softly and she had to smile.  "It's been mostly talk up to this 
point, and I like movies where people talk to each other.  So what are 
you up to?'

"Nothin'," said Mulder.  "Just sittin' and thinkin'."

"What about?"  She lay down on the couch, putting her feet up on the 
armrest, twining her fingers through the fringe trim of one of the throw 
pillows.

"Lots of stuff," he said evasively.

Silence.  A long, uncomfortable silence.  Say something, Scully thought.  
"I still don't see any resemblance between you and whatshisname," she 
reached for the video box, "Bobby Budapest."

"Bucharest," Mulder corrected.

"Whoever.  I mean, this guy, he...puts mousse in his hair..."

"I've been known to put mousse in my hair, Scully," Mulder intoned 
quietly.

"Have you ever taped the phone to your face?' she asked, referring to one 
of the things the guy did in the movie to try to impress Julia over the 
telephone.

"I'm doing that now," Mulder said and she smiled, imagining his ironic 
grin as he said it, that look that was unique to him and him alone.  This 
actor, Bobby Bulletvest or whoever, he was too vulnerable, too needy to 
remind her of Mulder.

"...And he walks around the whole movie in his underwear," Scully 
finished her arguments on the differences and realized how silly they 
sounded.

"Scully, have you ever seen my Speedos?" he asked in a low voice.

She laughed, knowing he was kidding by the over-seriousness in his voice. 
 "Mulder, why did you call me?" she asked.

"I was thinking..."  he trailed off.

"About?" she prompted.

"Scully, do you own a pair of red high heels?" he asked plainly.

She blushed furiously, her heart suddenly pounding.  She was forced to 
admit to herself that ever since she'd put the tape in the VCR, she'd 
been fantasizing.  And Mulder played a large role in those fantasies.  
But he...she...they...No.  She covered her flustered reaction by saying 
in a smooth voice, "Maybe."

Mulder's voice was equally low and sexy as he said, "Put them on."  She 
shivered, goosebumps rising on her skin, reacting as she surely would 
have if he had actually touched her with more than his voice.

"Mul-"  she began, but he'd already hung up.  She sat up and stared at 
the phone for a second.  Then she looked around the living room, and 
picked up the VCR remote.  She set it back down carefully on the table 
without putting the movie back on.  Slowly, she rose and walked into the 
bedroom, digging through to the back of her closet.

Red shoes.  Very high heels.  She'd never worn them.  She ran her fingers 
along them, then shrugged and slipped them onto her feet, smiling 
secretly to herself as she passed the mirror and paused a moment to 
admire what they did for her legs.  

She lay back down on the couch and put her feet up on the armrest again, 
looking at the shoes and thinking.  About Mulder.  Then she plumped up 
the pillow behind her head and reached for the remote.

The doorbell rang.  She froze.  "Who is it?" she asked.

"Mulder."

She put down the remote.  She didn't need it any more.  She glanced at 
her shoes and a slow smile spread across her face.  "Come in."

The end.

I would appreciate any and all comments you may have on this fluff piece -
 praise and constructive criticism are both welcome!  Email me at 
eponine119@att.net


eponine119           eponine119@att.net
"You search for the truth, you dream of a lover,
They take all your youth, they take all your friends."     -Metropolis 
[the musical]