From: "Tara Byers" Subject: new story, hope you like it! Date sent: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 16:18:30 PST Title: Tell Him Author: Tara Byers Rating: G Classification: V- Vignette Spoliers: Detour Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance Summary: Scully confesses her feelings to Mulder while he sleeps. Dana Scully watched the dark forest around her. She knew that they were out there, waiting, but her usually sharp eyes could not pin them down. Her partner lay sleeping on her lap. Sometimes he would jerk quietly as he fought against his dreams. Other times he would lay so quietly that she sometimes checked to see if he was still breathing. She looked around sharply when she heard the brush rustled beside her. Everything went silent. It had been a rabbit or something. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. >Sure, Dana.< Mulder moved in her lap and she turned her attention to him. His light brown hair was tousled and she widhed she could look into his hazel eyes again just to know he was all right, of course, not ecause when she looked into his eyes she felt herself falling deeper and deeper. It wasn't that at all. She sighed and lightly laid her hand on his side. He seemed to relax and lean into her. She smiled. She loved him. That she knew. She could not admit it to herself often but when she did, it seemed like her heart grew lighter. She also knew that he loved her. It showed in the his hand on the small of her back and the way they seemed to read each other's thoughts and feelings. It was in the way he sometimes looked at her and the brillant smiles that were hers alone. There had been so many times that she had wanted to reach up and kiss him. So many times. But she hadn't. She wasn't sure how he would react. She wanted it to be mutual, not just her coming onto him. She wanted so much to tell him how she felt, so much to look into his melting eyes and confess her love. She loved him with her whole heart and soul and she would give her life if that would save him. "Dana" The breathy whisper came as a shock. He hardly ever called her Dana. Not unless she was mortally wounded or was lying in a hospital bed. She leaned over and touched his cheek gently. She brushed the stray lock of hair from his eyes and whispered in his ear. "I love you, Mulder." He sighed in his sleep and she sat back against the log. He would wake in the morning not knowing what she had done. But that was all right. She smiled happily to herself. She had told him.