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They exited the hospital and headed towards the parking lot,
Scully digging into her jacket for her keys, Mulder still with his left arm
loosely draped over her shoulder.
The cold December night air tickled his nose as he inhaled.
Must be hovering around freezing, he thought, wishing for his lost coat.
It was somewhere in that dark basement. Tossed to the creatures to
provide enough of a distraction for Mulder to draw a protective circle
of salt in the sandy basement floor.
The jingling of Scully's found keys brought him back to the present, and
to what had transpired before in the waiting room. Did he fuck up by
kissing her?
Mulder wasn't sure.
He didn't think Scully was angry at his impulsiveness, or she would have
slugged him immediately or would be chewing him out about it right
now. An angry Scully was easy for Mulder to identify. Right now,
Scully was her normal calm, cool, collected self, and that was what had
him off balance.
Perhaps she thought it was just an innocent New Year's kiss between
friends. Nothing to get excited about. Mulder was tired of being just
"friends", and a kiss seemed like the best way at the moment to convey
that thought. Maybe not, judging from Scully's lack of reaction at
present.
Did Scully think he was a poor kisser? He'd kissed her before, several
times in fact. And she him, twice, on the forehead. Tonight was the first
lip to lip. A milestone, a giant leap. So why was Scully so damn calm?
They arrived at the car. A frustrated Scully searching for the correct key
to unlock the door. "Dammit, why can't the bureau buy cars with
keyless entry?" Standing close behind her, Mulder, oblivious to her
current dilemma and still warring with himself over the kiss in the waiting
room, decided it was time to act impulsively again.
"Scully, I can do better."
He reached for her chin and pulled her mouth to his.
"Wha..mmph?" was all a very surprised Scully had time to say. At first,
she was tense, but quickly her mouth relaxed beneath his. He was
pressing her against the car. Her arms encircled his waist. He heard the
clink of the keys dropping onto the pavement and smiled to himself as
he felt her respond and actually return his kiss. And much too quickly, it
ended.
"I don't remember complaining about the first one, Mulder," Scully
softly replied as she looked up at him, smiling.
Mulder, grinning, answered.
"Just trying to be thorough."
"Hmmm. I think you just wanted an excuse to kiss me again."
"You're way too smart for me, Scully," Mulder murmured and rested his
forehead to hers. Mulder, quite relieved that a good number of his
doubts had been answered, sighed contentedly. They held each other
for several minutes,
Mulder's hands traveling along her back, until Scully pulled away.
"We need to get on the road, Mulder. It's late, and it will take a couple
of hours to get back to D.C."
He nodded, bent down, and retrieved her keys.
"I think you dropped these while ago," he said, dangling the keys in
front of her, a shit-eating grin on his face. Eyebrow raised, Scully
snatched the keys from Mulder's hand.
"Get in the car, Mulder."
Around 3 a.m., they arrived at Mulder's apartment building. And
luckily, Scully found a decent parking place. Mulder, who quickly, once
they were on their way, succumbed to the effects of the Darvocet he
took before they left the hospital, was still slumped against the door,
lightly snoring. She reached over and brushed her fingers against his
stubbled cheek.
"Mulder, we're here."
"Already? We just left," Mulder's groggy voice replied.
"Come on, I'd better help you upstairs. Darvocet tends to make you
loopy, Mulder."
"I like loopy. You wanna get loopy too, Scully?" he leered.
"No, thanks. I need to get you upstairs and into bed. Let's go."
"Oooh, Scully, that is the best offer I've heard all night.
I'm all yours."
Scully exited the car and then went around and opened the passenger
door. Mulder rather clumsily unbuckled himself and stepped out. He
took a couple of swaying, unsteady steps and leaned up against the car
for balance.
"I hate the undead," he groaned.
"You shouldn't need the painkillers for very long," Scully said as she
placed her hand on his waist and guided him towards the building.
Arriving at his door, Scully used her key to unlock it.
Inside she herded him to his bedroom.
"You gonna tuck me in, Scully?" Mulder asked sporting a large, toothy
grin.
"In a minute, but first I need to borrow your facilities."
Watching slack-jawed at Scully's ass as she moved to the bathroom,
Mulder decided that now would be a good time to peel his pants off
and crawl into bed, and maybe if he was already asleep when she got
out of the bathroom, Scully wouldn't feel the need to poke and prod
around on his shoulder like a good doctor should. After three failed
attempts, Mulder also remembered that unzipping one's pants one-
handed and under the influence of Darvocet is rather difficult.
"You need some help there, Mulder?" Scully asked, trying not to giggle
as she returned from the bathroom and observed him struggling with his
zipper. Mulder, rather red-faced, nodded the affirmative.
Don't get hard, don't get hard, don't get hard, he prayed silently to
himself, eyes closed as he felt her fingers begin to unbutton his fly and
his penis begin to expand.
"Shoes, Mulder," she said as she tapped him on the calf.
Mulder stepped out of his forgotten shoes, hoping Scully wouldn't be
embarrassed by his rather prominent erection. God knows, he was.
The shoes gone, Scully stood up and folded his pants. He could tell she
was trying very hard to ignore his enhanced crotch, and as she turned
away to place the folded pants on the foot of his bed, he caught the
evidence of a slight grin on her face.
"Sorry about that, Scully."
Ignoring his comment, she moved to the head of his bed and pulled the
covers back.
"Okay. In bed, Mulder," she directed, still trying hard not to stare.
"Fluff my pillows? " Mulder asked teasingly. He imagined a much more
risque response to his question darting around in her brain than the one
he received. He was secretly hoping for the risque.
"Fine," a slightly irritated Scully replied as she leaned over and fluffed his
pillows. She stepped back, and Mulder climbed obediently under the
covers.
"Thanks, Scully. You always take really good care of me."
She smiled back at him then turned away to head out of the bedroom.
"Scully, wait," Mulder called out.
"What is it, Mulder?" Scully replied as she turned around to face him.
"Well, it is late, and I know you're tired, and I think you should
probably stay here for the night," he stated with concern in his voice. "I
also have plenty of room in my king-size, here," he added with an
eyebrow waggle, patting the space beside him and hoping she wanted
to get acquainted with his other King Size.
"I was pretty much thinking on doing the same thing," she replied,
ignoring his bed patting. "I was thinking that I will want to check your
wounds in the morning. You having fought with a walking necrosis,
there will be a large risk of infection, and my staying over will save me
from having to drive back over here in the morning."
Mulder continued to pat the bed and motioned with his eyes for her to
join him.
"So I will go and camp out on the couch, then."
Disappointed, Mulder tossed her one of his nicely fluffed pillows.
"Feel free to raid my dresser for whatever you want to sleep in, Scully."
"I will, thanks."
Pillow caught, Scully procured from the dresser a grey tee shirt, a pair
of blue sweat pants, and a pair of white tube socks.
"'Night, Scully."
She heard from behind when she reached the doorway. She turned and
added, "'Night, Mulder. If you need anything, don't hesitate to wake
me."
"Like when has that ever been a problem, Scully?" Mulder answered,
grinning.
She thought for a moment about the myriad of late night phone calls
she'd received from him, about a wide variety of subjects ranging from
important work related matters, to the totally absurd. She smiled and
replied.
"Good point. See you in the morning." Then she disappeared into the
living room and leather sofa nirvana.
Mulder awoke when the sun was fully up. His mouth was dry and
sticky, his mind a bit fuzzy, and his bladder about to explode. Mulder
grabbed a pair of sweat pants, pulled them on and headed post haste to
the bathroom.
Finished with the business of the bathroom, Mulder wandered into the
living room. He observed Scully wound up in his Indian print blanket,
still deeply asleep. He paused to watch her sleep for a few moments
while he scratched various itchy places on his belly, then turned to the
kitchen.
Coffee, he needed coffee, and then he would need to dig up some kind
of nourishment. He hoped that there was something edible lurking in his
refrigerator, as he would need food for his morning dose of Keflex.
Also, he needed a shower in the worst way, and that would entail
removing his sling. Good thing Scully was here to help him out.
Once he had put Mr. Coffee to his task, Mulder went back to the living
room and over to the window, pulled back the blinds and looked out.
Everything looked as it always had. He thought he should be able to tell
by looking out at the world that they had now moved into a new
Millennium. Well technically, according to Scully, they still had a year to
go. But then isn't every day technically the beginning of a new
millennium? To modern people of the western world, this day is
important only because of the Gregorian calendar. Isn't another culture's
measure of time just as significant? Mulder certainly thought so.
"How are you feeling?" he heard from a groggy-sounding Scully,
interrupting his musings.
"You startled me. I thought you were still asleep."
"Sorry about that," she said. After rolling out of her blankets, then
yawning and stretching, she added, "Coffee smells good."
The clothes she had borrowed to sleep in were all askew, her hair was
mussed, and her cheek had acquired a pillow indentation. She looks
adorable, Mulder thought to himself as he observed her shuffling into the
kitchen, socks stretched, and one hand grasping the waistband of the
borrowed blue sweat pants, preventing them from puddling around her
ankles.
Coffee was poured and creamer added. She moved back into the living
room with two mugs. "Let me see how your shoulder looks," Scully
suggested after her first sip of the steaming liquid.
"Aww. Do I have to?" Mulder whined.
"Yes, you do. That walking corpse that shredded your arm is a prime
candidate for causing a very nasty infection that could kill you. Now
let's get that sling off."
Mulder sat on the arm of his couch while Scully removed the sling and
bandage. He watched her face for any indication that something may be
amiss, and thankfully she did no poking.
"What's the verdict, Doc?"
"Looks good, actually. No apparent swelling or redness, and the wound
is cool to the touch. Not overly painful either, is it, Mulder?" she asked
as she carefully probed the area around the wound.
"Not really. Just you go easy on that poking, though."
"Well, you probably should take another dose of your Darvocet this
morning. And then after that, you will be able to make do with Tylenol."
"Hey Doc, how about a shower?" he asked. Noticing Scully doing a
double-take at his innocent question, he added.
"I mean for me. Is it okay for me to have a shower this morning? But
you're more than welcome to join me," Mulder tossed in at the end
hopefully.
"A shower is fine, Mulder, just make sure to keep your wound out of
the direct spray of the water."
While Mulder showered, Scully scoured the kitchen for anything that
might be edible. With Mulder, one never could be sure. After a few
moments of exploring the inside of Mulder's sad-looking refrigerator,
she found a few eggs, half a loaf of bread, and an unopened jar of
strawberry jam.
So she set out to prepare scrambled eggs and toast. By the time she
had the food on the table, Mulder had returned from his shower.
"Smells really good, Scully, I'm starved," Mulder said as he sat down.
"Mulder, go get your antibiotics. And take them now."
Frowning he replied, "Right," then rose from the table, went to the
bathroom, and located the bottle of Keflex. He shook out two of the
largish and rather foul-smelling red pills and downed them with a cup of
water.
"Took them in the bathroom," he said as he sat down to eat.
"Good. Be sure to take them all. It's very important that you do. People
not taking their full course of antibiotics is what causes the microbes to
develop resistance to the drugs. The day may come when antibiotics
will no longer work, and then where will we be? The doctors who give
them out like candy for every imagined aliment a patient complains of
should be taken out and shot." Scully went on in full rant mode.
"Good thing I have you around to keep me on track, Scully."
"Well, actually you won't, Mulder. My mother and I will be going to
visit my brother in Southern Virginia, and we'll be leaving this
afternoon."
"How long will you be away?"
"Just a week. He wasn't able to get any leave until after the first of the
year, and I haven't seen him in forever. So with some finagling, I was
able to get an extra week tacked onto my Christmas time off."
"So I'm on my own then?" he replied, trying not to sound like a pathetic,
neglected child.
"Looks like it. I think you'll be able to manage. Plus, I will leave my cell
on so you can call me if you need to. What time is it, anyway?"
"Around 10:30 I think."
"Damn. I need to call mom and let her know I'm going to be a bit late."
Stuffing the last bit of toast in her mouth, Scully headed to the phone.
Mulder began to clear the table and as he placed the jam in the
refrigerator. Scully had finished her call and changed back into her
clothes.
"Have a safe trip, Scully." he told her, toying with the door of his
refrigerator.
"Thanks," she replied, and thus began an awkward moment between
them. Mulder hoped that she will offer a goodbye kiss, and Scully
wasn't sure if she should offer to kiss him, or wait and let him make the
first move. She silently cursed this romantic relationship stuff, as she
never can get it right, and when she ever does get the nerve to make a
move, it is often the wrong one.
"I'll see you in a week," she said shyly, nervously fiddling with her car
keys.
"Yeah," he answered and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
He closed the fridge and then went to the door to let her out. At the
door, they stared at each other, immobile, each afraid to move. Irritated
at her indecisiveness, Scully turned and headed for the elevator. Mulder
watched, feeling abandoned as he observed her walking down his
hallway. After the elevator doors closed, he went back in his apartment,
went to the window, and watched until she climbed in the car and drove
off.
Mulder spent the next week alone puttering around the office. He was
on desk duty for the week, per his doctor's orders. Not much was
going on. At work, he did some odds and ends paper work. Flung
pencils into the ceiling, and perfected his paper wad 3 point shot. In the
evenings, he played marathon death match sessions of Quake 3 Arena
with the Gunmen, tried not to scratch his itchy shoulder, and refrained
from bugging Scully needlessly on the phone.
She called him after 3 days when she hadn't heard from him,
thinking it was out of character for him not to have called, and she was
somewhat alarmed. Mulder chided her for assuming he couldn't behave
properly while unattended and on his own. Yes it was a very productive
week, indeed.
Scully would be home today was his first thought when he rolled out of
bed. He was very happy. He was not ashamed to admit to himself that
he missed her terribly, and that he'd been very tempted to gnaw off his
own stitches in the last 48 hours, as they'd bugged him greatly. She
called a little after 1 to say that she would be back home around 6 and
would come by his place shortly after.
Scully got there at around 6:47. Mulder knew he was certifiable, since
he noted the exact time that she arrived.
"Hey, how's the arm?"
"I'm about ready to gnaw it off, it itches so bad, but otherwise it is fine."
"Mulder you didn't have to wait for me to take out the stitches. If it's
been bothering you that much, why didn't you have Sheila do it? She
would have jumped at the chance."
Mulder gulped at the thought. Sheila lived on the first floor of his
building, was an ER nurse and had a major crush on him.
"More like jump me. Really Scully, I prefer your doctoring skills."
Scully laughed. "Anybody with good eyesight and a steady hand can
remove stitches. It's not that big of a deal."
"I ordered pizza, if you're hungry. Should be here shortly,"
he mentioned to change the subject.
"Well, let's get it on then, Mulder. Bathroom."
"Okay."
Mulder stood by the counter, watching as Scully opened her sterile
removal kit and laid out the equipment next to his sink.
"Take off your shirt and jump up here on the counter," Scully instructed.
Mulder complied and watched as Scully began her task. He loved to
watch her when she was in full doctor mode, and that occurred most
often when he had injured himself in some way or another. Perhaps he
was a closet masochist, only injuring himself for the opportunity for
Scully to patch him up. No, most likely he was just very accident prone,
he told himself.
"This may tickle a bit, so try not to squirm," she said as she cut the first
knot and pulled the thread out, depositing it in the small basin from the
kit.
Mulder watched, fascinated by how she was totally engrossed in her
task. He loved her tongue darting to the corner of her mouth, the knits
in her brow and the slow, methodical motions of her hands as she
carefully removed each stitch.
If she was hurting him physically, he was unaware of it. He was almost
in a trance, awed. Unaware, he had placed his left hand on her hip, his
fingers lightly stroking the texture of the knit of her slacks, enjoying the
feel of her warmth beneath the fabric.
"This last one may hurt a bit. It's grown into the skin."
She raised her head just long enough for their gazes to lock, the tension
between them building. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Scully returned
to her task, carefully picking at his skin to remove the last knot.
"Got it." She smiled as she showed him the small bit of thread, dropped
it in the basin, and then began to clean up.
As she was doing so, Mulder had been gradually leaning in closer and
closer, until his nose was buried in her hair, his right hand pulling her to
him. Encouraged that she hadn't pulled away, he inhaled, then pressed a
kiss in her hair and then migrated to her forehead, and then south to her
slightly parted lips. There he lingered for a moment, taking a quick taste,
then pressing fully to her mouth.
Scully was gently returning his kiss and moaning softly, until she felt his
left hand slide over her ass and gently squeeze. That was when she
pulled away and reached behind her to remove his wandering hand.
"Scully, I'm sorry."
Scully, still holding his hand, her voice shaking, replied.
"I'm not any good at this, Mulder. I guess I panicked a bit. I think I
should go." Mulder wasn't about to let her go without learning what
was wrong, as he grasped her arm.
"Scully wait. It's okay. I suck at relationships, too. Lots of people do.
Tell me what's wrong."
"Mulder, you don't understand. Every relationship I have ever had that
became sexual has ended horribly. You are the most important person
in my life right now, excluding my family, and I'm scared to death that
moving forward will jeopardize us and what we have now." Scully
sniffed and wiped her tears. "I'm afraid that at some point, I will force
you to make a choice between me and finding the truth about your
sister, aliens and a possible government conspiracy, and that you will
come to hate me for it."
Shaking his head, Mulder answered, "Scully, I could never hate you. It's
impossible. No matter what."
"Mulder, I do want this. I just wish it wasn't so damn
complicated."
Mulder drew her back into his arms and held her tightly against his bare
skin. "Scully, we can do this anyway you wish, I'm not wrong assuming
that you want to proceed onward, am I?"
Her head buried in his chest, Scully replied "No, you're not."
"Alright then, you call the shots. I'm willing to wait as long as it takes,
and promise to try to behave."
Scully laughed. "Mulder, I would worry if you never tried to push the
boundaries."
"I'm not going to have to wait another seven years to touch your ass
again, am I?"
"Most definitely not."
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