Chapter Text
She honestly doesn’t know what she expected.
No, she expected him there. He was supposed to come pick her up, sweep her up off her feet and carry her home, or at least carry her bag. But he wasn’t there. She scanned the waiting area three times at least, looking for his tall stature and goofy smile.
Where was he?
Had she forgotten to call? No, she had made sure to leave him a voicemail. Two, actually. One saying that she had gotten on the airport and one saying she was on the plane and would be home in 2 hours. Why didn’t he answer her?
Why does she even care?
It’s not like he’s her boyfriend. It’s not like he has any obligation to pick her up. It’s just that he’d always done so. Whenever she had late flights like this, he’d just… picked her up. Like there was nothing to it. The first one she hadn’t even had to ask. She had mentioned offhand on the phone that she had a late flight and was coming in around 1 am. When she got off the plane, he was there waiting for her.
You can’t expect me to let you catch a cab at this hour Scully. You could fall asleep and end up in some back ally somewhere. You never know the kind of vagrants that walk the streets at 1 am
And what about you Mulder? How do I know you’re not going to take me into an ally somewhere?
Because Scully, I… am not a vagrant. I know how to treat my women.
She had fallen asleep in the car on the ride home, and he had practically carried her upstairs to her room. He had done it again and again, every time she’d come home, even during the day, he had been there. And now here she was, at 12 am and she seemed to be the only one without someone to pick her up.
Does she miss him?
She couldn’t possibly. She would just catch a cab, lug her own bags and go home. She’d call him the next day. Wonder where he was and then pretend, she wasn’t bothered when he inevitably apologized. He would see her at work the next day with her regular coffee order and they would pretend nothing is wrong.
But was there even anything wrong?
Yes. Something was wrong. He was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be carrying her bags to his car and making stupid jokes to cheer her up and asking her if she knows any good places to eat at 1 in the morning but god dammit, he wasn’t here, why wasn’t he here?
She was mad. Mad at him for abandoning her like this, for making her take a cab home, for everything he’d done to her. He was the one that was supposed to look after her, to care for her, to make sure she was never alone and he promised. He promised he’d keep her safe and he couldn’t even show up to the god damn airport to pick her up. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d been misjudging this relationship… this arrangement. What if he thought someone else would just come get her if he didn’t come? What if he didn’t care?
Why was this making her so upset?
She knew why. She knew as she wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall and grabbed the handle of her bag to prepare to lug that and her even heavier suitcase out the door to the taxi waiting area. She jumped when she felt two hands on her shoulders, spinning around with a fist ready to attack when she stopped.
“Jesus Scully you wouldn’t hit your ride home, would you?”
She breathed a sigh of relief, registering the face of her partner, the one she had just been so upset with seconds ago. She followed through with the fist, aiming for the shoulder instead of his face.
“Where in the hell where you?”
He winced, rubbing his shoulder and backing up slowly.
“I went to the bathroom, I though your flight was getting in in ten minutes.”
He rolled his shoulder and finally looked at her face, registering the tear streaks and her flushed complexion. “Scully what’s wrong?” He stepped closer to her attempting to grab her hand, but she pulled away.
“I thought… you … I thought you didn’t show” she whispered. She didn’t know why but couldn’t stop the tear from falling down her cheek.
“Scully of course I showed. Why did you think I hadn’t?” She didn’t answer. Just let more tears fall. He grabbed for her hand again, and she let him. “Scully I’ll always come get you”
She didn’t answer. Just lunged forward and grabbed his face and kissed him as hard as she could. He was shocked. So shocked he didn’t move for seconds, hands still outstretched and eyes wide open before he registered what had happened. She pulled back, releasing his face and turning to grab her bag and striding off in the direction of the parking exit. He didn’t move for another few seconds until he came out of the shock, grabbed her other bag and ran after her. Neither of them chose to comment on the small smile lingering on her face when he caught up with her.