Work Text:
Saturday, January 1, 2000
9:00 AM
Mulder awoke to hear someone kicking his apartment door. He jumped out of bed and then collapsed back down in pain. He had forgotten about his mangled arm and now that the painkillers had worn off it was stiff and very sore. He groaned. The kicking had stopped but he heard Scully’s voice calling, “Mulder, get up!” Scully wasn’t shouting – obviously she didn’t want to disturb his neighbours too much the morning after New Year’s Eve, but she sounded urgent. Mulder sat up more slowly this time and then carefully got up and went to unlock the door.
The explanation for the kicking became clear as Scully had her hands full with a briefcase, a paper bag from the local coffee shop, and two large cups of coffee. “Hey, come on in.” Mulder muttered sleepily as he held the door for Scully to enter.
Scully put the coffees down on the table and flopped onto the sofa. “Sorry to wake you up, but Skinner wants the report emailed by noon. He said we could take the rest of the weekend off, and you are officially off duty for another week until your arm heals.”
“Well, considering you brought coffee and breakfast, I’ll forgive you.” Mulder sat down next to Scully, closer than was strictly necessary, and grabbed one of the coffee cups.
They drank their coffees in a somewhat awkward silence. Last night they had faced a squad of undead members of the Millennium Group, and after Scully saved Mulder from joining their ranks, they had shared their first kiss as the ball dropped in Times Square. Then they had shared their second kiss after Scully had driven Mulder home, the memory of which made Mulder smile despite the pain in his arm. Where did they go from here? He turned his head to look at Scully, and she smiled and lowered her eyes shyly. He put his coffee down and bravely did what he had always longed to do: gently tucked a loose strand of Scully’s hair behind her ear. She reached up and held his hand against her face. She finally spoke in a low voice. “This sounds crazy but I’m so scared.”
“I know,” whispered Mulder. “I am too. You are everything to me and I don’t want to mess this up.”
She nodded. He put his one good arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. He didn’t dare to move, afraid this was all a dream. Some time later Scully lifted her head and inquired, “How is your arm this morning?”
“Well, you know…” Mulder tried to shrug but winced.
“I’ll take a look at it after you eat breakfast,” said Scully, as she reached into the bag and handed Mulder a chocolate chip muffin.
“We’d better get going on that report,” she added. “I’ll type seeing as you only have one functional hand right now.” Scully headed over to Mulder’s computer and turned it on.
As Scully typed, Mulder finished his breakfast and then pulled up an extra chair beside her. He put his head next to hers so they could both see the screen. He noticed she paused typing for a second, then kept going. This could be interesting, he thought, and turned his face so his lips brushed her cheek. She stopped typing again and whispered in his ear, “Just wait until we’re done this report, Mulder.”
It was Mulder’s turn to momentarily freeze, but he agreed and he began filling her in on what had happened on his side of the investigation. They struggled over how to describe the events in the basement, so it represented the facts but didn’t make them sound like complete lunatics. “They’ll never believe it, Mulder. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either,” exclaimed Scully.
“I know, I know. But I think we can emphasize that the threat from this group is definitely over, and maybe gloss over some of the details…” he replied.
“That’s not how I write reports, Mulder.”
“I know.”
They continued haggling over the wording, but finally after about an hour the report was finished and Scully clicked ‘Send’ and the email was on its way to Skinner.
“Now where were we?” Mulder teased as he leaned over and gave Scully another kiss on the cheek.
“Wait, I’m going to change the dressing on your arm,” she said, a little breathlessly. She got up and motioned for Mulder to lie down on the couch. She grabbed some first aid supplies from her briefcase, knelt beside him, and gently removed the sling and the bandages. Mulder’s arm was a mass of bruises and deep scratches, and he experienced a curious sensation of pleasure at her gentle touch, but pain as she spread antiseptic on the wounds and applied a new bandage.
“Thank-you, Scully, for everything,” he stated after she had finished.
“You know if you had told me where you were going I might have been able to get there sooner, and maybe you wouldn’t have had a zombie try to make you a midnight snack!” She reproached.
“I suppose you’re right. But if I hadn’t been in the hospital, I might not have been standing next to you at midnight.”
“That’s true,” she replied and then finally, to Mulder’s delight, she bent over him and kissed him again. They were both so passionate and Mulder felt weightless. Afterwards, as they gazed into each others eyes, Scully smiled, and gently brushed his hair back from his face. Suddenly, she looked troubled.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I… this is going to be so hard… no one can know about us. It’s too dangerous for both of us if this truth becomes known.” She said quietly.
“I know, I was thinking the same thing. We will have to be careful. But even if we have to keep our feelings hidden while we are at work, I’m glad we’re finally being honest with each other.”
“Me too. And Mulder,” Scully took his hand in hers, “this is going to be awkward to say, but I want to take things slowly. I know things have been leading up to … this… for a long time but I don’t want to rush ahead. I want to enjoy and savour every moment we have together.”
“Oh Scully, I feel the same way.” He replied. “But all the same, you tell me when you’re ready to hop into the back seat of one of our FBI rentals while we’re on a case, OK?” He winked.
Scully rolled her eyes and laughed. “Dream on, mister.”
“Oh, I intend to.”