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“The pizza will be here in a few.”
“Okay. There’s cash in my wallet,” Mulder called from somewhere in his bedroom and Scully smiled as she looked around the apartment, but did not find it.
“Nope. Didn’t find it. Is it in here?” she asked, walking into his room. He turned around quickly, moving a box from a teetering stack in the middle of the room.
“I…” He set the box down and felt his back pockets.
“Oh, well I could have done that,” she said with a smile, walking close and putting her arms around his waist, her hands sliding into his pockets.
“Oh,” he said with surprise. “Yes, that’s a much better way to find it.” He moved his hands and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her as she squeezed his ass through his jeans.
Laughing into his mouth, she pulled back and smiled, moving her hands to the small of his back and holding tight as they rocked back and forth.
“Still haven’t found it,” she murmured against his mouth and he hummed, kissing her once more before he pulled back and began searching for it.
“I’m sure I had it earlier.”
“I would hope so,” she stated with a smile. He grinned and walked out of the room, her trailing behind him. “I already looked out here.”
“So you said.” He turned to her and raised an eyebrow with a smile and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Are you implying I didn’t look hard enough?”
“Not… exactly. More that you don’t know all the places I like to set things.” He looked at her again and she crossed her arms with an eyebrow raised.
“Where else should I have looked aside from the desk, the desk drawer, coffee table, here on the empty dining room table, or the kitchen counter?” She ticked them off on her fingers and he grinned as she tilted her head.
“I’d say you have all the places covered.”
“Uh huh.” She smiled as she crossed her arms again and he snapped his fingers, leaving the room and walking back to his bedroom. She followed again and watched him pick up his pants from earlier that day.
“Yup, here it is.” He took it from his back pocket and handed it to her.
“How did you not remember that you’d forgotten to take it out of your pocket?” She shook her head and he stepped toward her.
“Well… someone was eager to remove my clothing when she arrived.” He looped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet as she squeaked in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck. “The whereabouts of my wallet was the last thing on my mind.” He kissed her and she melted into him with a moan, knowing he was absolutely correct.
Knock knock knock
“Damn,” she murmured and he kissed her before setting her down.
“I’ll be out in a second.” She nodded and walked to the front door, opening Mulder’s wallet and talking out two twenties as she did.
Opening the door, she paid the delivery guy and took the pizza and large salad from him, setting it on the dining room table, her stomach growling.
“Here’s your change,” the guy said, handing her some bills. She gave him a tip and he thanked her with a nod before she closed the door.
As she put the money back into the wallet, the corner of something caught her eye and she pulled at it, knowing how Mulder liked to save his good fortunes as he ate his fortune cookie. She smiled as she saw that there were a few and with a tug they came out, as something larger fell face down onto the floor.
Setting the wallet and fortunes onto the table, she bent down, picked it up and turned it over. Her eyes widened in surprise at the item in her hand. It had not been what she was expecting and a gamut of emotions passed through her as she stared at the old folded picture.
“Mmm… I can smell that pizza from the bedroom. God, I’m starving,” Mulder said as he walked into the dining room and clapped his hands with a smile. “We doing plates? No plates?” He stopped as she handed him the picture. He took it and sighed, looking at it and then at her.
“Why do you have that in your wallet?”
“Seriously? Why wouldn’t I?”
“I guess I should have said ‘how long have you had that in your wallet?’ That would have been more accurate.” He smiled and looked at the picture again.
“Since that case.”
“What? Mulder…”
“When we came back and I got the film developed… it was the last one on the roll-”
“I remember.”
“Right,” he said with a smile. “Right. Well… I had this picture and I liked it and so I kept it.”
“In your wallet?” she asked softly and he nodded, looking up at her.
“I… I didn’t plan on keeping it there. I had all the photos laying out in the office and as I got to this one, I was looking at it when I heard you coming in, so I hid it. And then well, I’ve kept it in my wallet.”
“But why did you feel you had to hide it? I knew you took it. I knew it was there.” She shrugged with a smile and took the picture back, looking at her younger self smiling happily back at her, her arms wrapped around a greenish blue light pole, and her fingers locked together. “I remember this case. That old suit especially.” He chuckled as she made a face and looked up at him.
“I didn’t want you to find me staring at it like some kind of creep.”
“I wouldn’t have felt that way.” He stared at her and she smiled. “I might have teased you and then wondered why you had, like some kind of… oh...” They both laughed and he nodded.
“Do you want to know why I’ve kept it for so long?” he asked softly and she shook her head. “No?”
“I know why. You were desperately in love with me.” She shrugged and he laughed heartily.
“I was. But, that wasn’t exactly why.”
“Was?” He smiled and brushed her hair back, his thumb trailing down her cheek.
“Definitely not was.”
“Hmm,” she hummed with a smile. He nodded, moving his hand and she grasped it, squeezing and then letting it go. “Tell me.” Nodding again, he sighed.
“That case… it was the first real one back after you’d been so sick, not counting the one in Florida.”
“You mean the failed team building weekend?”
“Don’t even bring that up,” he shivered and she laughed. He shook his head and she waited, searching his face. “I’m so glad we missed that weekend.”
“Yes, staying the night in a forest with you injured, was much more enjoyable than a wine and cheese reception.” She rolled her eyes and he nodded.
“I’m glad we agree.” She shook her head and he winked at her. “Although, I was an idiot when it came to the wine and cheese portion of our evening.”
“Oh… you were indeed.”
“And I’ve apologized for it. Kicked myself for it too. Many, many times.”
“Oblivious,” she whispered and he nodded with a deep sigh. “What you missed. I had the sexiest underwear on that night too.” He raised his eyebrows and she shrugged.
“Sexier than… than the black ones from the other night? Because those… I really liked those.”
“I noticed,” she said with a grin. “But you were telling me something. So go ahead.”
“We’ll be circling back to this conversation later.” He gave her a look and she shrugged noncommittally, a teasing smile on her lips. “Oh, we will be. I guarantee it.”
“Should we talk while we eat?” she asked, gesturing to the pizza.
“No. Not yet.” He took the picture back and smiled as he looked at it. “After that time in Florida, I saw that you were stronger than you had been. You were happier, lighter and while you didn’t walk around grinning all the time, I could see it.” He looked at her and she smiled.
“I’d nearly died,” she said softly and he nodded.
“Yeah. That was a lot of it, but it was different too. It was…”
“I was alive. Given another chance,” she said with a sigh, knowing the other reason why there had been a difference in her, although he obviously did not.
Maybe not then, but he did now.
She had told him recently as rain fell heavily outside one night. Laying in his arms on the couch, his fingers running through her hair, her arm around his waist, the three words had slipped off her tongue easier than she had ever thought possible. The weight of them had felt huge until she had said them and it actually felt light, as though she had been saying them for a lifetime; not vocally, but in millions of different little ways.
His hand had paused in her hair and she had felt him stop breathing, his heart pounding loudly against her ear. Then his fingers had begun to move again and he had taken in a shaky breath.
“I love you too, Scully,” he had whispered and she kissed his chest as she pulled tighter to him, thunder rumbling low outside.
She looked up at him and he was smiling softly. Before he could say anything, she wrapped her arms around him and sighed as she listened and felt his heart beating, his arms holding her close as he hummed softly.
“I was given a second chance,” she repeated, needing him to know. Her voice was muffled against his shirt that smelled of clean laundry and his own unique scent. “And… I was falling in love with you. How could I not be happy?”
“Scully…” he breathed and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
“I should reiterate that I was falling in love with you again, or continuing to be.” She pulled back and smiled at him. “I was going to live and I loved you. I didn’t know how to say it, but I felt it. I was happy.”
“Which I could see in this picture of you,” he said softly, releasing her to look at it as he still held it in his hand, smiling and shaking his head. “I didn’t know for sure what it was, but I loved seeing the happiness in your eyes. You were healing, getting stronger, and you were still with me.”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You almost died.” He looked at her, his eyes sad. “Because of me, my quest, my…”
“Mulder-”
“It’s true. You had every right to leave and yet you stayed. You were there, right beside me. I…”
“Did you not hear me say I was continuing my descent into loving you?” He exhaled a breath with a small smile and stared at her with a shake of his head.
“You-”
“I couldn’t leave you, any more so than I could leave myself.” She smiled, placing her hands gently on his chest. “Above the work, above all else, I couldn’t leave you. God help me, but I need you, just as much as you need me.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” he whispered with a shake of his head and she smiled with a nod.
“I do,” she whispered back and he squeezed her hand that rested over his heart. He sighed as he shook his head again, staring into her eyes.
“I love you.”
“And I love you,” she replied. He nodded and moved his hand to stroke her face. Her eyes slid shut as his lips touched hers gently, kissing her twice before he pulled back and smiled at her.
“Can I have that picture?” she asked and he nodded. She took it from him and picked up his wallet. Folding the picture, she began to put it away when he stopped her.
“Wait. You have to put the fortunes in with it.” She looked at him and he nodded. “But read them first.” Setting his wallet down with the picture, she opened the fortunes one at a time and read them out loud.
“Happiness is within your reach. You will soon find what you truly desire. Do not dwell in the past, look to the future.”
“The last one is my favorite,” he said quietly, as she picked up the final one and felt tears stinging her eyes before she read it out.
“Love will find you and make you complete. Don’t let it go.” She shook her head and looked at him, blinking back her tears.
“Every one of those reflect that picture to me, so they need to stay together.” She nodded, closing them up again and put them all back into his wallet, shutting it and laying it on the table. Sighing, she looked at him again.
“You constantly surprise me, Mulder. Constantly,” she whispered and he smiled, reaching for her, his hands resting lightly on her hips.
“Is that good or bad?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“It’s good. It’s very good,” she answered, her tone serious, her hands holding his face. “You never cease to amaze me.”
“I hope I never do.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” she said, echoing his words back to him and he grinned as she smiled back. Raising up to kiss him, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
His stomach growled against hers and she laughed. Pulling apart, they went to get plates and bowls, glasses of water, utensils, and napkins, before they sat down to eat, smiling happily at one another, their knees bumping under the table.
Laying in his bed later, her head on his chest, his fingers running through her hair, she looked at his wallet lying on his nightstand. She smiled as she thought of the picture held within, the folded creases forever permanent, as it rested beside the fortunes he had kept for years.
She thought of how often he had taken it out and looked at it, not needing to read the fortunes as he would have had them memorized. The image of him doing it filled her heart with happiness.
“Constantly surprised, Mulder,” she whispered and he hummed.
“Look to the future, your happiness is within your reach,” he whispered, pulling her even closer.
She smiled as she closed her eyes, nuzzling into him as she heard a crack of thunder, lightning flashed, and rain began to fall, his fingers once more running through her hair.