From: LassMulder@aol.com Date sent: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 15:21:01 EST Subject: Valentine's Day...? Title: Valentines Day...? Author: Lass Mulder Classification: SHR Rating: PG Spoilers: no real spoilers, but references to Paper Hearts and a few others Summary: Valentines Day? Huh?? Disclaimer: Dana Scully and Fox Mulder aren't mine, they belong to Chris Carter and 10-13 Productions. I'm just borrowing them for the story, so please don't sue me. No infringement intended. ============== This is a mushy fluff piece I decided I needed to do one boring day before Valentines. So sue me. No, wait, don't, that's why I put the Disclaimer in there.... ============== A knock came at Fox Mulder's door. He grabbed a shirt and wormed into it on the way to open it. He quickly looked through his peep-hole to check who his visitor was, "just in case". he told himself. Seeing it was his partner, he unlatched the locks and swung open the door. Dana Scully walked with purpose into Mulder's apartment, not pausing to look at him as she said a cheery, "Hello!" She continued past his living room, and went straight into his bedroom. Throwing open his closet, she began looking through all of Mulder's warm weather clothes that were shoved to one end. Selecting a nice sweater and some jeans, she turned to his dresser. "Scully? Um.. Mind telling me what you're doing?" Mulder asked as Scully took out a turtle-neck shirt and tossed it onto the bed with the other articles of clothing. "Put these on," Scully demanded, not answering any questions. "Um. You're in my bedroom. I usually change in here." Scully threw up her hands with an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes, as if Mulder asking for privacy while changing was crazy, and a silly thing to ask for. She walked out of Mulder's room, not closing the door, and leaned up against the wall of the hall, looking straight ahead. Mulder, standing just around the corner, decided not to argue with Scully, and started to change into the outfit she had picked out for him. "Ok, Scully, you win. Now why am I changing from my very comfortable pants and favorite NY Knicks T-shirt into these heavy jeans and scratchy wool sweater that my mother gave which I *hate*?" "Because today is not a day on which you should be sitting around your apartment, *alone*, watching some of your videos in old T-shirts. So I came over here to get you and take you somewhere." Scully paused. "And if your mother picked out that sweater, she has good taste." "What's so special about today? I was looking forward to a nice, boring Saturday, lounging around here, nice and warm, oblivious to the snow out there." Mulder finished changing and turned around to find Scully standing in the door-way, grinning. "Hey! How long have you been--" "C'mon, Mulder. Grab whatever you need and lets go. My car is waiting downstairs." Scully grabbed her partner's hand and dragged him toward the front door. "Ok. NOW are you going to tell me where we're going? I'd like to know I'm not being abducted." Mulder shifted in his seat and looked over at Scully, who was driving. "Kidnapped. Why do you always use "abducted" instead of "kidnapped"?" "So I *am* being kidnapped?" "No, Mulder. Can you honestly tell me you don't know what today is?" Scully glanced at Mulder with a puzzled yet amused expression briefly before turning her gaze back to the road ahead of her. "I don't know. Grab-your-partner-and-stick-him-in-bulky-uncomfortable- clothes-and-drive-him-to-an-unknown-place-without-his-consent Day?" "No, but that sounds like fun. Remind me when that particular holiday comes up. Mulder, today is February 14th. Valentines Day. You know? Paper hearts, red and pink stuff, doilies, love? Ring a bell?" "Oh.. Ok. But, I must remind you, I'm not too friendly when it comes to hearts being cut out of things. Nightgowns, for instance." Mulder trailed off and looked out his window. Scully glanced over at her partner again, wishing she hadn't mentioned paper hearts. The mask on his face told her nothing, but the reflection of his eyes in the glass allowed her to see the pain he was trying to hide. "Well, I decided that since neither of us has anything close to a "significant other" in our lives other than each other, that we should at least spend this holiday together. So, I'm taking you ice-skating," Scully said, changing the topic. "Ice-skating?" Mulder asked, surprised. "Do you like to ice-skate?" "I love it. I go every winter. I thought you knew that? Oh, well. I guess we don't talk as much as I thought we do. We should. Well, we can today, right? So, do you ever go ice-skating?" "No. Actually, I did once at Samantha's last Birthday Party. I never tried it again." Scully thought. "Ok. What size shoe are you, Scully? I'll get the skates," Mulder offered, as they entered the skating rink. "I'm sorry, Mulder. I'd counted on going to the lake to skate, but because of the recent snow.. Is this Ok? Or would you like to leave?" "It's fine, Scully. I'll probably be good for me to do this. And I get to do it on Valentines Day, with you. I think I'll make it," Mulder said, only half joking. "Um. Why don't *I* get the skates? What size shoe are *you*, Mulder?" Scully said. Mulder thought he saw the faintest trace of a blush, but it was gone again when she looked back to him. "No, I said I'd get the skates. Is it possible Dana Scully doesn't want to reveal her shoe size?" Mulder said, his eyes smiling. "I'm not uncomfortable telling you my shoe size. I'm.... OK, I'm a 5." "A 5? You have such little fee-!!" Scully stopped him mid-word with her Scully-stare. "Don't start, Mulder." Mulder left and got the skates. "I'm sorry about that, Scully. I didn't mean to start a fight over shoe sizes," Mulder said quietly as he sat down next to her and put his skates on. Or tried to. "Mulder, here, let me. You can't put it on that way; the laces won't be able to tie properly." Scully knelt down and re-tied Mulder's skates. "Ok. You're all set. Shall we?" The 2 partners made their way towards the rink, Scully holding Mulder steady. She stepped onto the ice and pushed herself backwards. The rink was nearly empty, as it was still relatively early, so there weren't many skaters she had to avoid. Turning, she skated around in a quick circle and came back to Mulder. "It's easy. Come on. I've got you. You're not going to fall. That's it." Scully eased her partner onto the ice, holding both of his hands and skating backwards in front of him. She kept up the quiet, constructive comments, and before Mulder knew it, they had made a complete tour around the outside of the rink. "Hey. I seem to remember being allowed to hang onto the rails when you're learning. How come you pushed me straight out into the deep end? All that is keeping me upright is a small red-head skating *backwards*, which can't be safe," Mulder complained. He was starting to get worried, and was using every excuse he could think of to get Scully to let him off the ice. "Mulder, you've battled liver-eating mutants, tiny, green, people-eating bugs, 6-foot sewer worms, machines that try to kill you, Russian. whatever that was that you did over there, *yourself*, which, I know, is an almost impossible adversary, and-" "Yeah, yeah, and now I'm afraid of standing by myself on some ice. You've used that line before." Scully suddenly let go of Mulder's hands and skated away from him. Mulder slowly glided to a stop and looked after Scully. "Scully? Please come back here. Get me off the ice, now." "See, Mulder? You can stand fine by yourse--" Scully broke off as Mulder tried to move. His feet shot out from under him and he flailed for a moment before landing hard on his back in the middle of the rink. Scully bit back a laugh and skated over to her stranded partner. "What were you saying about me being able to stand by myself, Scully?" Mulder asked weakly, not attempting to move. "I'm sorry, Mulder. Take my hand and we'll go sit down for a minute or 2." After some considerable work on Scully's part, they were both back on they're feet and moving towards the benches. Just as Scully was about to step off the ice, Mulder's feet slipped again, and he went down. The problem was, he was still hanging onto Scully for dear life. "Muld--!!" Scully's feet slipped and she landed on the ice with an "Oooff!" on top of her partner. "That wasn't funny, Mulder." "I didn't do that on purpose. But now you know what it feels like to be humiliated by falling on your ass in public. Now, can you get off of me?" "Yes. And thank-you, you broke my fall nicely. Even if you did also cause it," Scully said with a smile, pausing a moment before dragging herself up and off of him. After a few minutes off the ice, eating M&Ms and sipping some Root Beer and Ice Tea, Mulder stood up. "Ok. I'm ready to try it again." Scully looked up, surprised. She watched him for a while, trying to make sure he was serious. Seeing he was, she put her drink down and stood up, too. "'K." This time Mulder moved a lot better. They made a couple of loops around the ice, slowly at first, then increasing the pace. More people were arriving, and the rink was a little more crowded. Scully turned to Mulder and asked: "Want to try it without me?" "But we work so well together." Mulder gave a small smile. "Sure." After a couple of hours at the skating rink, Mulder asked if they could call it a day. "My feet are killing me, and I'm sure I'm going be *incredibly* sore tomorrow." "Ok. Thanks for trying it. I had fun. Is it-" Scully's question was drowned out as a booming voice announced over the speakers that it was time for the Valentines Hour. The next skate would be for only male-female pairs. "Valentines Hour? Kinda corny." Scully looked over at Mulder. "One more skate? For Valentines Day?" "Sure." The pair of agents ran out to the car, through the wind and rain, and jumped into the front seat. Scully found her keys and put them in the ignition. Pausing to remove her coat and toss it in the back, she asked Mulder: "Do you want to just go home? It's still early afternoon. And we didn't have lunch," Scully pointed out. "Alright. Lunch sounds good. But it's my treat. You took me ice- skating, so I get to do lunch." "Sounds fair. But help me with this. We're steaming up the inside of the car. I can't see a thing out this front window." "This is wonderful, Mulder. How come you never told me about this place?" Scully took another bite out of her turkey sandwich. They were seated at a small table in the corner of a little hole-in-the-wall deli. "You never asked. And it's not too close to the Bureau, so I could never get you lunch from here. But they make the best roast-beef deli sandwiches I've ever had," Mulder said. "I get them every time. " He paused. "Actually, I don't think I've ever taken anyone here. I always come by myself. Hardly anyone knows about this place." Scully was touched. "Thank-you for sharing this with me, Mulder." "You're very welcome. Are you done? This place also has fabulous ice- cream." "Mulder, what are you trying to do? I'm going to have to work out for hours to get rid of all this mayonnaise, dressing, milk-shake. Besides, how can you possibly want to eat ice-cream while it's practically below freezing out-side?" "Mmmmmm. Oh, Mulder, you were right. This is heaven." Mulder grinned. "I told you their ice-cream is to die for." "Definitely. I could live on coffee ice-cream. What flavor did you get?" Scully asked, licking the back of her spoon. "Mint Chocolate Chip." Scully swallowed another mouthful and told Mulder, "I know why you like that flavor." "Why?" Mulder asked, wondering what Scully was thinking. "Because it's green." Mulder gave her a blank look before saying, "I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me." "Oh, yeah. That red-green color-blind thing. I was thinking of your little green men." Mulder opened his mouth to rely but Scully cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, they're gray. Reticulans, right?" Mulder smiled. "How come we know exactly what each other's thinking?" "I don't know. Science can't explain it. And don't get used to me saying that, either. Ok. I'm done." "Another unexplained phenomena. Scully, where did you put all that ice- cream so fast?" "I thought you would have guessed by now." Scully got up out of her seat, seeing Mulder had also finished. She leaned over and said softly in Mulder's ear, "My real name isn't Dana. It's Zag. And I'm from the planet Zordon. Meet me outside in the primitive, polluting, earthy transportation device." As Scully pulled up to Mulder's apartment, he unbuckled his seat-belt and turned to face her. "Thank-you, Scully. Or Zag. I had a good time today." "That's OK, I had a good time, too. We should do this more often." "Good idea. I'll see you Monday." After a slight pause, Mulder leaned over and kissed Scully lightly, but not quickly, on the forehead before opening his door and stepping out into the rain, and dashing up to the door. "Monday morning." Scully sighed, putting the car into gear and speeding away, placing a hand to her forehead. ================ Too soppy? PLEASE tell me what you think!!! LassMulder@aol.com ================