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“Been looking all over for you.”
“They got it so wrong, Scully.”
“I got a page from the Washington Bureau. Micah Hoffman was murdered tonight. Murdered in his own home by Cardinal O’Fallon, who then hanged himself. A murder-suicide.”
“It’s Jesus and Judas, Scully.”
“Wow. It’s all over now.”
“No, no, it’s just beginning. Hoffman and O’Fallon were these complicated, flawed, beautiful people, and now they’ll just be remembered as jokes because of this movie. The character based on O’Fallon is listed in the credits as ‘Cigarette-Smoking Pontiff.’ How silly is that?”
“Pretty Silly.”
“Yeah, what about us? How are we going to be remembered now ‘cause of this movie?”
“Well, hopefully the movie will tank.”
“What about all the dead people who are forever silent and can’t tell their stories anymore? They’re all going to have to rely on Hollywood to show the future how we lived, and it’ll all become simplified and trivialized and cigarette-smoking pontificized, and become as plastic and meaningless as this stupid Lazarus bowl.”
“I think the dead are beyond caring what people think about them. Hopefully, we can adopt the same attitude. You do know that there aren’t real dead people out there, right? That this is a movie set?”
“The dead are everywhere, Scully.”
“Well…we’re alive. And we’re relatively young, and Skinner was so tickled by the movie…”
“I be he was…”
“….that he has given us a Bureau credit card to use for the evening. Come on.”
(The two walked away.)
“Mulder, I have something to confess.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m in love with Associate Producer Walter Skinner.”
“Ahh…me too.”
“I don’t know, Scully. I just don’t know.”
“About what?”
“Everything. I guess this movie just has me a bit down. Have our lives really become the butt of a joke?”
“Mulder, what we do is not a joke. You and I do the things no one else wants to do or can do. We are not a joke. I will admit that this movie is a….”
“Train wreck?”
“That’s a good way to describe it but we are more than that. We are.. us. We are Mulder and Scully; crimefighting duo, partners, friends, lovers.”
That got his attention. They had only recently crossed the line from friends to lovers even though they had been each-other’s soul mates for years. It’s been great. Mulder loves Scully with all his heart. He could never love anyone the way he loves her.
“Mulder, let’s enjoy us and this. We’re here in California and only have tonight left and a credit card with no limit. I say we enjoy it while we can. You know once we get back, things will go back to the way they were.”
“Us pretending that we aren’t sleeping together?”
“Well, that but I meant work. We’ll get a case and go tracking through the woods or wherever and figure it out like we always do. But for now, Mulder we are two people that are together in a beautiful city who can do whatever we want.”
“Ok. I just want to be with the one person that loves me for me and that is you. Let’s grab a cab and go somewhere.”
“I want to go eat someplace fancy and expensive. We’re already dressed for it.”
“Might as well get my money’s worth out of this rented monkey suit.”
The two hailed a cab and had the driver take them to Bartong. They asked the driver to take them someplace nice and had good food and wine. When they arrived, Scully handed over the credit card and tipped the driver before exiting.
Mulder and Scully were sat at a little table for two. It was romantic. Mulder ordered them a two hundred dollar bottle of wine. He was going to make the best of this night like Scully said to.
“Mulder?”
“Scully, I’m going to enjoy a night out with the love of my life on the Bureau. I have them to thank after all. I wouldn’t be in love if you hadn’t been assigned to spy on me seven years ago.”
Scully blushed at Mulder’s compliment. The server arrived and poured their wine before she had a chance to respond. They decided to start their meal off with Caesar salads. Scully ordered a fillet while Mulder opted for the ribeye. As with fine dinning everything was separate. So they decided to order sides and share. Grilled asparagus, whipped potatoes, mac n’ cheese and broccoli were added to their order.
“I propose a toast.”
“A toast?”
“Yes, to us.”
“To us.”
They sipped their wine. They were really enjoying themselves. Mulder was staring at his beautiful Scully.
“Scully, I have a confession to make.”
“What?”
“I love you. I love you more than anything in the whole world. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. Now, before you get all flustered and whatnot, let me finish. When I first found out I was getting a partner, I was not happy. I thought you were going to spy on me. I did a little reading up on you before that day. I knew from your file that you were smart. I knew my life was going to change but I had no idea how much.”
“Mulder.”
“Let me finish. Please. That first day, you walked into the office, I was prepared to…do battle with you; fight you. But, I took one look at those blue eyes of yours and I knew I was in trouble. By the end of that first case, I knew I could trust you. I told you about my sister. I knew after that, you were it. No one ever listened to me or believed me like you did and still do. I knew I loved you when you were abducted. I was a mess.”
“My mother told me how you were with her during that time. How you were working around the clock doing whatever you could do to find me.”
“I was lost. I caused a big scene when you were returned at the hospital. I thought I was going to lose you. You were my friend, someone I cared deeply about even then. I think I always loved you but I didn’t know how much until you got sick. I couldn’t lose you. I needed you. I couldn’t imagine my life without. It was selfish, but it’s the truth.”
“Mulder, I think I always knew too. I know what you did for me. You saved my life and now I’m here and well because of you.”
Before more could be said, the dinners arrived. The food was amazing. The steaks were the best steaks they had ever had. After dinner, they decided to order the chocolate treasure for dessert and two coffees. After all the Bureau was footing the bill.
“This is nice, Scully.”
“It is. Why don’t we do this more often?”
“What? Drink a two hundred dollar of wine? Eating at fine dinning establishments in our best clothes?”
“Well no. I meant go out.”
“Date?”
“No, Mulder. We’ve been dating for seven years just not in the traditional sense anyway. I just meant go have fun, go out do things. We had a good time on that baseball date we had.”
“We did. That was fun. I was trying so hard not to get hard with you that close to me and wiggling and having fun.”
“News flash, Mulder, you were not hiding it. You can’t hide it.”
“Thanks. I think. I thought you were worried about people finding out about us especially Skinner.”
“I am. I don’t want us to get in the way of the work or for them to use us against us. As for Skinner, I think he knows already or at least he suspects it anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I love our movie nights and our take out dinners and the joint showers and all that. I guess I’m just saying I’d like to do more. Maybe go to a carnival or another night at the baseball field.”
“I think we can do that. What do you say to hitting the town after we finish up here?”
“What did you have in mind?”
Mulder thought long and hard about what to do with Scully. They only had one night in LA and one night on the Bureau. He had to do this right. By the time dessert was finished, Mulder had an idea of what to do. Well, he knew where he wanted the night to end. He was hoping she had the same idea. But first, they needed to get out of the restaurant.
“What’s the damage, Mulder?”
“Five hundred and sixty dollars with tip.”
“Nice. I think Skinner is going to think twice about giving us a card like that again.”
“Most likely. What ado you say, we get out of here. Grab a cab and see where the night takes us?”
“I say, you’re on.”
The two walked out hand in hand and waited for a cab to come. Mulder couldn’t keep his eyes off his beautiful Scully. She was the most beautiful person in the world. He really didn’t deserve her. He told himself this all the time.
“Mulder? You alright? You zoned out on me.”
“Yeah. Sorry, was lost in my head. I…I guess I still can’t believe this is real. That you and me and real. I never thought in my wildest dreams that it would happen. You are too good for me. I don’t deserve a woman like you.”
“Fox William Mulder, you cut that out. You deserve to be happy. If I make you happy then you deserve me. I love you. You need to stop this insanity.”
“You really love me, don’t you?”
“For the thousandth time, yes. Mulder, I have never been this happy with anyone before. You understand me. I tend to keep everything close to the vest but with you, I can be me. My walls come down with you. Mulder, you make me laugh and drive me crazy but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Mulder was speechless. He leaned in and gave her the sweetest kiss. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears. He truly loved Scully. She was the only person who really loved him. He held her tight while they waited for the cab to come.
Mulder told the driver to take them someplace romantic. Mulder wanted to give her a night to remember. After driving a bit, the driver stopped at Griffith Park. They were told that the Observatory was pretty romantic. Mulder got some other ideas from the cab driver before being paid and driving off.
They walked hand in hand to the Observatory. Mulder and Scully explored the exhibits. Mulder loved the Explore the Edge of Space exhibit. He loved space and Scully loved seeing Mulder happy. It was rare that Mulder was that carefree and peaceful. She was enjoying it. They grabbed cups of coffee and walked outside the Observatory looking up into the sky.
“Samantha and I used to sit outside on the Vineyard and stare up at the sky. She loved the stars. For her birthday, I got her this book about stars. She read it soo much the spin broke. She even had those glow in the dark ones stuck to her bedroom ceiling.”
“You both love them.”
“Yeah. I got this really nice telescope for my birthday that year. That night, her and I went out as soon as it got dark and set it up. We spent hours out there just looking up. I don’t know what we thought we were going to find other then stars but we kept looking. For siblings, we were pretty close; good friends.”
“I can tell. You really love your sister. It’s nice to have those memories of times with her.”
“Yeah. What about you, Scully? Any star gazing stories with big brother Bill?”
“Not with Bill but with Ahab. He made it a point when he was home to do something with each of us; just me and him or Bill and him. That kind of thing. So, this one time after dinner he took me to the park. I was maybe five or six. He pushed me on the swings and everything. There was this cart selling Italian ice. He got me one; a cherry one. Anyway, we sat on this bench and it was getting dark. We looked up at the sky and he started pointing the stars out to me. Ahab liked to tell me stories of how the sailors would look up into the sky at night wondering if their loved ones were looking at those same stars. After that whenever I missed him when he was at sea, I’d look up and know he was looking at them too.”
“That’s really sweet. I never got to meet your father but he sounds like a great man. He’d be very proud of you.”
“He was. I take after him in a lot of ways but I often wonder if he would be proud. He wasn’t thrilled when I gave up medicine for the FBI.”
“I think he would be. You have saved countless lives in your work. You do important work that no one else can do.”
“Thank you. You’re not so bad at what you do either.”
Mulder smiled and pulled her close. He gave her a sweet little kiss before looking into her eyes. He was in love and what he saw in her crystal blue eyes was love. He could get lost in her eyes and he did a lot of the time.
“What do you say we get a cab out of here and find a place to grab a drink?”
“A drink sounds nice but I’m in the mood for something else.”
“And what might that be, Scully?”
“Ice cream.”
“Then ice cream it is.”
Mulder got a cab and had the driver take them to a Baskin Robbins. Scully always had it when she was a kid. It was their place as children. Scully ordered a banana split with chocolate fudge, peanut butter n’ chocolate and rocky road. Her logic was the banana was good for her so it balanced the ice cream and toppings. Mulder got a peanut butter cup sundae. The two sat at a little table enjoying their sweets.
After they finished, they headed back to the hotel. It was getting late and they were getting a bit tired. When they arrived back at the hotel, they took the elevator up to their floor and down to their rooms. They had rooms next to each other.
“I do not want this night to end, Scully. I’ve had fun. Well, after that horrible joke of a movie. That was just bad. Only good thing about it was that I got to see you in that dress. You look great.”
“Thank you and Mulder, this night doesn’t have to end. You’re room or mine?”
“Yours. You always seem to get the better rooms. Let me get out of this damn monkey suit and I’ll be right over.”
“Don’t take too long. I may get started without you.”
They both went to their own rooms and got ready for the rest of the night. Scully called down to room service to get a bottle of bubbly and strawberries but they were closed for the evening so she would have to make due with the mini bar.
Ten minutes later Mulder was in her room ready to spend the night with his Scully. Scully slipped off her dress showing Mulder her black satin bra and panty set. Mulder ran his eyes over her smooth skin and sexy body. He was getting hard and fast.
“The night is young, Mulder.”
“This is truly a great night and it’s on the Bureau’s dime.”