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She read somewhere once, that lying on your back makes you laugh more due to blood rushing to the back of your head. Which was definitely why- she reasoned; she was laughing so much at Mulder’s terrible story.
‘I’m telling you Scully; it was the size of a Rottweiler.’
She pressed her hand flat against her sternum, trying to abate the laughter that was shaking her body. ‘Mulder, raccoons do not get anywhere near that big.’
‘I dunno Scully. Remember this was a Vineyard racoon. Who knows what sort of delicatessen meats and vintage wines that thing had been stealing from the trash cans of the rich and influential?’
‘If all it takes for creatures to become abnormally large is some nice cuts of meat and wine, then how come half the population of Europe isn’t 8 feet tall?’
‘Lack of sunlight,’ he nodded matter of factly.
She gave him the eyebrow. ‘Lack of sunlight? In Europe? Because everyone knows Spain is famous for its particularly tepid whether.’
‘You forget that I lived actually lived in Europe for a while, and I’m fairly certain I developed a vitamin D deficiency.’
‘I’m not even going to bother explaining the difference between the climates of England and Spain.’
‘Well that’s good, because I haven’t finished telling you about my harrowing encounter with ‘The Vineyard Devil.’
‘The Vineyard Devil?’
‘It’s what I named the racoon.’
‘Right.’
They were over at Mulder’s having what he had called on the phone last night an “adult sleepover.”
‘It’s gonna have everything Scully, take out, alcohol, sex, a movie, midnight snacks, great sex, tie die, more sex.’
‘Mulder, I’m beginning to think you have an agenda for tomorrow night.’
‘I would never.’
So now here she was, 24 hours later, naked, slightly drunk, sexually sated and giggling with her FBI partner in his bed.
Things had definitely changed between them ever since his impromptu brain surgery, but it wasn’t until their New Year’s kiss that the flood gates had really opened.
It wasn’t like the kiss had altered or enhanced their feelings in any way. It was more like a physical confirmation by the two of them, both finally admitting what they wanted.
And what they wanted was each other.
The sex was great (‘holy shit, we’re SO good at this,’ as Mulder had eloquently put it) which she could have predicted. What she couldn’t have predicted however, was how easy it was to just be with him.
After nearly 6 years of repressed feelings and longing glances, she expected a bumpy transition period as they tried to figure out how to balance Special Agents Mulder and Scully, with their counterparts, Fox and Dana; newly christened lovers. But it turns out she needn’t of worried. They had fallen into the rhythm of being lovers almost as easily as they had when they became partners.
Their instinctive push and pull was still there, just in a much different sense. It felt right. That was the only way see could explain it.
‘Oh course I could never go back to that diner after that, knowing that ‘The Vineyard Devil’ lay in waiting.’
‘So let me get this straight. A racoon stole your bagel ONCE and that scarred you so much, to the point where you haven’t been back to that diner to this day?’ She doesn’t even remember how they ended up talking about this. It turns out their change in relationship seemed to include sex AND racoon talk.
She was a lucky girl.
He lightly poked her ribs. ‘Hey, I was eight years old. I wasn’t the battle hardened, athletic specimen you see before you now.’
‘Uh huh.’
‘…Did I mention that it was the size of a Rottweiler?’
‘I believe you did. Is this why you decided to join law enforcement? To try and catch other such breakfast thieves?’
Suddenly the smile dropped from his face. ‘Actually… when I was young, before Samantha… you know… I wanted to be an explorer.’ He frowned as though annoyed at the memory.
‘I don’t know why I wanted to be an explorer. I just remember, even then, feeling like there was more out there. Especially when I used to look out over the water, I felt this pull telling me that there was somewhere else I was supposed to be. Something important that I had to find. ’
Scully said nothing. Mulder talking about his childhood was rare, so Scully remained silent, trying to soak up as much information as she could.
‘I told Sam this and she said she wanted to go with me on my adventures.’ He paused ,the crease deepening between his eyebrows. ‘She said she wanted to come with me, just in case I got into trouble. She said that she always had to be there, just in case I needed help.’
Scully ran softly ran her thumb over his collarbone trying to offer what comfort she could. He said nothing else, his eyes staring into nothing, lost in memories.
She cleared her throat. ‘You know, when I was younger- much younger mind you, I wanted to be a space pirate.’
She felt his body loosen as he registered what she said. ‘Really?’
She congratulated herself on having successfully distracted him from his melancholy. ‘Yeah, when I was a child about maybe five or six, Ahab told me that in the “old days,” before computer navigation, before radar, before proper maps, they would travel by the stars.’ She fell silent, feeling the familiar stab of sadness she always did when she thought about her father. Mulder sensed this and reached out to clasp her hand in his, waiting patiently for her to finish her story.
She let out a long exhale and continued. ‘So I decided that I was going to be the first one to go up there and make a proper map of the stars.’
She felt his smile, rather than saw it.
‘I can see it now.’ He swept his hand in front of him, as though picturing the slogan. ‘Dana Scully, Interstellar Cartographer. Has a nice ring to it.’
‘No.’ She poked him in the stomach, giggling. ‘Dana Scully, Interstellar Pirate.’
‘Oooh I’m so sorry Captain Scully. Are you going to make me walk the plank for my mistake? Ooor how about..’ He began to slide his hand over her stomach, ‘you use me however you see fit, to make up for my,’ he slid his hand lower, ‘heinous disrespect.’
She hmmmm-ed in mock thought and rolled onto her side to face him, batting her eyelashes in what she hoped was a coy way. ‘However I see fit?’
His eyes widened and he nodded eagerly, looking shocked- as he always did when she actually reciprocated his flirting. She secretly loved him like this- dopey and high on arousal. After feeling like she was playing second fiddle to the X-Files for so long, having his undivided attention like this was addictive.
‘Well in that case..’ she whispered trailing her finger down his chest, ‘what I really want…’
‘Yeah..?’ he started to lower his head, gently rubbing his nose against hers.
‘What I really need….’
‘Yeah….?’ He murmured against her lips, their breaths mingling into one.
‘What I really REALLY, need is to go to the bathroom.’
He let out an exaggerated groan and dramatically flopped back onto the bed, throwing his arm over his eyes. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you can be a real mood killer sometimes?’
She began to slide out of bed, a smug expression on her face. ‘You know funnily enough, only you.’
He peaked out from underneath his arm. ‘You know what? You can forget Dana Scully- Interstellar Pirate. You should be Dana Scully- Professional Tease.’
She decided to ignore this comment as she walked into the bathroom.
It was only a couple of minutes later as she was washing her hands, that she looked up into the mirror above the sink and realised that she was still smiling. She couldn’t remember the last time she had smiled or laughed this much. The last time she had felt so light, so… unburdened.
She wondered then in that moment if it always could have been this easy between then.
Her and Mulder lounging in bed, joking about racoons and space pirates as though they didn’t have seven years-worth of heartbreak and pain behind them. As though they hadn’t been shot, assaulted, kidnapped, tortured, betrayed and shot again.
She remembers the times; such as during her cancer, or the whole Diana debacle, where she could count the number of times she properly smiled on one hand. Where talk between them was strictly restricted to case related subjects and polite small talk. It was hell, having to spend all of her time with the person she loved, but feeling like she could barely even look him in the eye.
She was jolted out of her trip down memory lane by Mulder’s call from the bedroom. He’d obviously gotten bored. ‘Hey, Scully you alright in there? You didn’t fall in the toilet again did you?’
She stuck her head out the door. ‘Fall in… again?’
He was lounging on the bed, his hands behind his head, wearing nothing but a thin sheet and a cocky grin. ‘Do you not remember the hotel in Dover, Scully? Because I definitely do.’ She felt a blush colour her cheeks and she ducked back into the bathroom, closing the door to block out his chuckles.
When she emerged, he was staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought again. He didn’t speak until she settled next to him.
‘Hey Scully.’
‘Mmm hmmm.’
‘I’ve been thinking…’
This was never good.
‘I think… I think that that feeling I had. That pull I had, that I had something to find, somewhere else to be… I think it led me to you.’
She felt an exasperated fondness fill her chest. ‘Mulder, you’re drunk.’
‘That maybe true, but I’m.. I’m serious Scully.’ He turned to face her; his forest green eyes so earnest that it nearly took her breath away. ‘That night in Bel Fleur, in the graveyard. Tell me you didn’t feel something… something right.’
She remained silent, thinking over that sodden night. She remembered being freezing cold, her whole body shaking from the chill, but being too excited to notice. She remembers looking up at him- Fox ‘Spooky’ Mulder, her partner of barely three days, with his hair plastered to his head, a smile stretched across his face and his eyes.. She sees them so clearly. They were so bright, so beautiful, so…
‘I felt alive.’ She blinked, only registering the words after she said them.
Mulder’s only reaction was to press a kiss to her shoulder.
She blamed her fourth beer for the sudden urge, the sudden need, to tell Mulder everything. She had to make him understand- to see, that what she felt was more than something ‘right.’
The words left her in a rush. ‘I felt so alive. I’d never felt like that before. I was so cold I could barely move my lips, but I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, feel adrenaline coursing through my veins and…’ She locked eyes with him and took a deep breath. ‘And I..I remember thinking, ‘I could do this forever.’
Mulder reached up and gently wiped away an errant tear from her cheek. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. The kiss he gave her was short and sweet and it told her everything she needed to know.
She sniffed, wiped the tears from her eyes and turned away from him, nestling herself back against his chest. Mulder slotted his body behind hers, curling an arm over stomach so his hand rested between her breasts. A moment later Scully entwined Mulder's fingers with her own.
After a minutes comfortable silence, in which Scully had begun to drift off, Mulder let out a huff of laughter against her hair.
‘Do I even want to know?’ Scully mumbled into her pillow.
‘I like the irony of it Scully. It’s so us.’
She let out a yawn. ‘The irony of what, Mulder?’
‘That only you and me Scully, could truly begin to live in a graveyard.’
She rolled her eyes- because that’s what she did when Mulder said ridiculous things. Even when- and she would never ever tell him this, those ridiculous things might just be true.