Chapter Text
Scully whimpers and curls into a ball on her bed with a heating pad pressed tightly against her lower abdomen. The heat and the pressure feel good and relieve some of the ache from the period cramps that are threatening to kill her today.
She took off of work, a rarity, and prays that Mulder isn’t going to call her to interrogate her about the cause of her illness (it’s not like she told Skinner she had period pains when she called in).
Groaning, she rolls a bit more onto her stomach, desperate for more pressure to quell the nausea. Her cotton night shorts and tank top are sticking slightly against her sweaty skin and if she could find the strength to move, she would go soak in the tub.
Holding the heating pad against her, Scully tries to sleep and possibly does doze off for a few moments, but then the pain punches her in the gut and she is awake once more.
“Fuck.” She mutters and makes a note to call her OBGYN when she can move again. Her cramps are normally not this forceful.
In her haze of tense pain, she doesn’t hear the knock on her front door or the sound of the keys jangling the lock. It’s not until Mulder is softly knocking on her bedroom door that she realizes he is in her home.
“Mulder?” She questions in confusion when he calls her name quietly.
“Did I wake you?” Mulder asks just as softly, pushing the door open to peer in on her.
“No. I… what are you doing here?” Scully stammers for a moment, caught off guard and keeps her back to him as she speaks.
“You never call off sick. I got worried.” Mulder answers and then lamely holds up two grocery bags that she can’t see, but hears the rustle of the plastic.
“I’m fine, Mulder. Go back to work.” Scully tries for authoritative, but a wave of nausea hits her and she ends the last two consonants on a small moan.
“What do you think you have?” Clueless as ever, Mulder steps closer to the bed.
“Mulder, I’m fine. Please just go.” Scully attempts again, but now Mulder is close enough to the bed to see the cord of her heating pad plugged into the wall and the corners of it warming the side of her abdomen.
“Oh.” He whispers. “I didn’t realize.” He stammers now, equally as embarrassed as Scully. It’s not like he is judging her for taking off of work because of period pains, he just knows how private she is and feels bad about intruding.
Scully sighs and turns to peer at him, her face slightly red from sweating and embarrassment. “What exactly did you bring me?”
Mulder smiles slightly, glad that she isn’t kicking him out right away. Even though he knows she isn’t sick, he still wants to help her feel better.
“Well, I mostly bought common cold items, but I did bring more Advil, some saltine crackers, and…” His voice trails off when he sees her eyes slip close on a grimace and her hand reach around to press on her lower back. “Back pain?”
Scully’s eyes re-open and she nods once. “Yeah.”
“May I…?” Mulder indicates her bed and after a hesitant sweep of her eyes across his face she relents.
Mulder slides onto the bed with her and gently coaxes her to turn back around to her original fetal position. He lays down behind her and tentatively lays his hand against her lower back. His fingers curl around her hip and he gently presses the carpal part of his hand into her lumbar nerves right above her butt.
“Oh!” Scully yelps at the slight pain, but then settles against the sheets as a bit of the tension in her uterus eases.
“Too hard?” Mulder whispers, afraid that if he talks louder he’ll break the bubble of intimacy Scully is allotting them.
“No. Can you do both sides at once?” Her voice is just as soft.
“Can you sit up?”
Slowly, Scully scoots away from him and brings herself into a seated position on the bed. A wave of intense nausea swarms her and a pulsing of pain shoots through her abdomen. She makes a groaning sound and doubles over, her face white with the pain.
Mulder quickly scoots behind her, bracketing her body with his longer limbs and places his hands against her lower back. He doesn’t apply any pressure, just soothingly rubs up and down with the palm of his hands.
Eventually, Scully sits up right and leans against his palms. “Sorry.” Her voice is small, a sign she is embarrassed by her body’s weakness.
“Don’t be.” Mulder soothes and helps her into a comfortable position between his legs. “Let me know if one spot is better than another.”
Scully nods and closes her eyes, focusing on breathing through the stabbing pain in her uterus. It seems like a betrayal, the fact that she is having a visceral period when her body cannot produce a child. She feels like she is being mocked by her own body, a neon sign of pain both physical and mental.
“Shit.” Scully mutters when Mulder hits a sore spot near her femoral nerve, her own hand grabbing gently at his thigh.
Mulder doesn’t say anything, just moves his hand lower and presses against her sacral plexus. It helps and Scully lets out a constrained sigh. Her eyes open and she pulls the heating pad back onto her abdomen, sighing once more as the combination of heat and Mulder’s hands eases some of the intensity.
Part of her is acutely aware of the fact that he is massaging an intimate region of her body. His hands move from her lower back to the upper part of her ass, but the relief he is bringing outweighs the obvious fact that this is more than a professional partnership should include.
“Oh.” Scully whimpers when he digs in a bit harder, feeling a bundle of muscle that needs to be relaxed.
“Too much?” Mulder whispers.
“No.” Scully breathes. “Please keep going.”
Mulder smiles behind her and uses his thumb to rub out the tension. Her hair smells of day-old shampoo and her body is slightly sweaty under his palms, but he doesn’t mind. The domestic nature of their interaction causes his heart to beat wildly and he revels in the time spent massaging her back.
“Higher.” Scully requests once her lower back is sufficiently relaxed.
As his hands skirt up her spine, easing along her lumbar plexus, conus medullaris, and subcostal nerves, Scully looks at their legs splayed out side-by-side on her bed. From her position in between his, their height difference is dramatized. Her feet end at his calves, her knees nowhere near his. It makes her feel small, but not in the patronizing way she has felt about her height her entire life. Mulder makes her feel safe, secure in his arms as he massages her back.
She’s aware that this is going too far, but she can’t bring herself to tell him to stop. It’s been ages since anyone has touched her in an intimate manner not associated with sex, and she wants to hold onto it for as long as possible.
Her eyes drop to the bags that he brought over, now laying deserted on her bedroom floor and feels a swell of emotion bubble in her chest. In past relationships, her boyfriends had always asked her what she needed when she was sick. They held it under the guise that she was a doctor or a medical student and knew her body best, but Scully always suspected that they asked because they were clueless and/or didn’t care that much to think about what she might need.
Mulder hadn’t done that. He had simply gone to the store and grabbed what he thought she might need, regardless of the fact that he had no idea what illness she contracted. Then he had shone up and invited himself into her bed to help her feel better.
A small part of her is unnerved by his boldness, but the majority of her is floored by the tenderness of his actions. It’s sweet and affectionate and Scully’s eyes fill with tears before she can stop the emotions from overwhelming her. It’s a dangerous line of thought considering they are not dating.
Mulder notices a second later when a tear rolls down her face, accompanied by a small hiccup that she tries valiantly to hide.
“Scully?” He asks, hands stopping on her shoulders.
“Sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying.” Scully half-lies. It’s true she isn’t quite sure why the grocery bags on the floor are eliciting such a strong feeling, having been at the receiving end of Mulder’s kindness a few times over the years.
“Hormones.” Mulder smiles and wraps his arms around her waist. “Right, doctor?”
Scully laughs, wiping the tears away. “I’m not normally this… emotional during my period.”
Mulder smirks again. “I know. I’ve worked with you for six years now, Scully.”
Scully elbows him gently with an eyeroll he catches in the mirror across the room from him. They sit silently for a few moments before Scully blushes and shifts in his grasp. “Mulder, I have to umm…”
“Right.” Mulder nods, understanding without her needing to complete her sentence. He slides off the bed and awkwardly looks at the bags on the ground, unsure if he should leave them for her to take care of or continue to invade her home with his presence.
Scully saves him from his internal debate seconds later. “Would you mind making us…” Scully glances at the clock, “brunch?”
Mulder beams a smile at the invitation to stay. “Absolutely.”
Mulder disappears into her kitchen, bags in hand, as Scully excuses herself to the bathroom. She takes her time and grabs a new pair of pajamas to replace her sweaty cotton ones. Toweling her body off of the sweat, Scully tries to tame her wild hair, but gives up moments later. She contemplates putting makeup on, but realizes it would be a weird thing to do considering Mulder has already seen her.
Settling for a silky pair of shorts and a matching top, Scully slips into them and rubs her body with some lotion to cover the scent of any lingering sweat. She brushes her teeth, just to waste more time, before exiting the bathroom to find Mulder carrying two trays of food.
“Bon appetite.” Mulder says with an awful fake French accent that makes Scully giggle. The sound fills Mulder’s ears and he smiles back at her, each taking their respective positions on the couch.
Scully licks her lips at the French toast he has provided. Her plate also has saltine crackers and Advil on the side, a silent comment to let her know he is still thinking about her pain.
She smiles and downs the Advil with some juice he poured before slowly eating the toast. Her stomach is still in knots, a bloated mess that she isn’t sure is related to hunger or period pains at this point, and takes the food in at a leisurely pace to be safe.
“I brought two movies over.” Mulder says, shyly after she eats a few bites.
“Oh?” Scully asks, an eyebrow raised in his direction.
“When I was a kid, before Samantha, my parents used to buy me a fuzzy blanket and watch movies with me on the couch when I was sick.” Mulder explains.
Her chest aches knowing that he lost all of those tender moments with his family after Samantha was taken, but smiles softly at him in thanks for sharing such a personal fact about his life. “What movies?”
Mulder smiles and grabs them from the bag at his feet. He holds up two movies. One, a newly released alien movie called Dark City and the other, a romcom entitled There’s Something About Mary.
Scully’s eyebrow arches again at the second choice.
Mulder shrugs. “The kid at Blockbuster said it’s a hit with the ladies right now.”
“The ladies, Mulder? Really?”
Mulder laughs and wiggles the box in her direction. “Want to watch it?”
“I’d rather watch the alien movie.”
Her response earns a widespread grin on his face and he pops off the couch like an eager child to slide the tape into the VHS player.
“It’s getting really good ratings at the box office right now.” Mulder explains as he sets up the movie. “The commentary on identity and memory loss...” Mulder stops his rant as he turns and sees the bemused expression on her face. “What?”
“What did you say to Skinner to leave work today?”
Mulder smirks. “I didn’t have to explain myself. Apparently having a plethora of unused vacation days means that an explanation isn’t necessary.”
Scully shakes her head and watches as the credits begin on the television. She startles when a soft, fuzzy blanket is slid over her lap and turns to Mulder after ascertaining that the blanket is not one that she owns.
Mulder is blushing slightly with a shy expression on his face and Scully feels her chest tighten again with emotions. Damn hormones, she thinks to herself.
Instead of verbally calming his anxieties, Scully tucks herself under the blanket and holds it open for him to share the other end. His arm settles around her shoulders after a moment’s hesitation and they both relax into the embrace as the movie begins, silently eating their food.
About twenty minutes in, Scully shifts with a grimace on her face, abandoning the rest of her early lunch. Almost immediately, Mulder is up off the couch. He returns seconds later with her heating pad from her bedroom and plugs it in before handing it to her to place on her abdomen under the blankets.
“Thanks.” Scully whispers and bites her lower lip as the heat spreads across her stomach. Mulder settles back down next to her, but this time worms his arm behind her so that he can rub her lower back once more. “You don’t have to.”
“Does it help?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then.” Mulder concludes. When his hand cramps from the position, he slides back against her couch and spreads his legs. “Come here.”
Scully swallows thickly, but moves herself between his legs once more, allowing him free reign to massage her lower back. The pressure of his thumbs does ease the ache in her body and she sighs in relief.
When his hands slip under her shirt, getting bolder as the movie progresses, Scully gasps and lets her shoulders fall back against his chest. The heat of his palms adds to the pleasure and soothes her spasming muscles.
Mulder works silently, watching the movie over her shoulder and tries to ignore his body’s reaction to touching her bare skin. He makes sure not to breach her shorts, not wanting to push things too far, settling for stroking the soft flesh of her lower spine.
He isn’t necessarily aroused, but his body feels warm and tingly with the domesticity that they are exhibiting. It’s an incredibly rare moment of normalcy that both of them are unfamiliar with.
Scully grimaces again about twenty minutes later, her body tensing in pain.
“Scully?”
“Pain is coming in waves.” Scully answers, having ascertained the pattern. Even with Mulder’s magical hands and the heating pad, Scully feels the nausea creeping back in along with searing stabs in her uterus.
“Is there anything else that helps?”
The silence that follows feels almost palpable in the air. Scully’s face goes red and her body tenses between his legs.
“Oh.” Mulder whispers a few beats later, catching on to her silent reply. “I can leave for a while if you need to…"
Scully cuts him off before he finishes his sentence. “Mulder, I’m not going to kick you out so that I can masturbate.”
The moment the word leaves her lips, they both flush in embarrassment, but neither point it out. She huffs at her own reaction, feeling like she is back in college having to explain to her boyfriend why they can’t have sex despite the fact that he brought condoms.
“I don’t mind. I could go for a walk.”
“Mulder.” Scully huffs again in exacerbation. The idea of kicking him out to masturbate and then having him return afterwards, fully aware of what she has done, makes her redden with embarrassment despite the fact that it hasn’t happened.
“I just want you to feel better.” Mulder replies, his voice once again quiet behind her.
The sincerity in his voice moves her and she sighs at their predicament. “I think I might just go lay down.”
“Okay.” Mulder nods. “I can clean up and…”
Scully stands, unplugging her heating pad to take with her into the bedroom. “You’re welcome to stay and finish the movie.”
Mulder nods, watching as she disappears into the bedroom. He finishes the movie, clears their brunch-time mess, and then hesitates at the door of her apartment. The fuzzy blanket sits on her couch, a reminder of the tenderness they shared earlier, and it’s that memento that spurs him back into her home.
He grabs the blanket and quietly slips into her bedroom. She is asleep, back in her original fetal position, and Mulder carefully slides onto the bed behind her. Tucking them both under the blanket, Mulder curls his larger frame around her and smiles when she unconsciously wiggles herself back into his warmth.
There is a chance he’ll face her wrath when she wakes for inviting himself back into her bed, but he is willing to take that chance. His hand holds the heating pad to her stomach when hers curl up next to her chest and he makes sure to stay awake to monitor the heat, not wanting to burn her.